UTCC:Thai economy is likely to grow by 2.2% in 2014

BANGKOK, July 31 (TNA) - Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) has projected that the Thai economy should grow by 2.2 per cent year-on-year on average this year. The university's president, Sauwanee Thairungroj, told journalists on Thursday that UTCC has revised its forecast of Thailand's economic growth in 2014 downwards, from 2.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent, as uncertainty has continued on the global economy, farm product prices have remained low, household debts have been huge and local costs of production and living have been increasing. Sauwanee assessed that the negative factors should cause consumption in the Thai private sector to grow by only 1.2 per cent, Thai exports to increase by only 1.8 per cent and domestic investment to shrink by 0.4 per cent. Sauwanee said that the number of international visitors to Thailand should also drop by 5.9 per cent to 24.9 million and the country's tourism-related revenues should fall by 2.8 per cent to 1.17 trillion baht this year. Sauwanee acknowledged that the Thai economy fell by 0.4 per cent in the first half of this year, but the national economy should pick up steadily in the second half because the national administration by the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has boosted confidence among consumers, while investment in both the public and the private sector and domestic tourism are likely to further expand from August 2014 onwards. Director of UTCC's Center for Economic and Business Forecasting Thanawat Polvichai predicted that the Thai economy should grow by 5 per cent next year, when Thai exports should expand by 5-7 per cent, thanks to the recovering global economy and mega-transport investment in the country which should expand by 13.3 per cent. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance revised its expected growth rate of the Thai economy this year, from 2.6 per cent projected in March to around 2 per cent, due to impacts from earlier political problems. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reported that the Thai agricultural sector grew by 0.8 per cent year-on-year in the first half of this year, boosted mainly by increased produce of livestocks, rice, sugarcane, maize, rubber, oil palm, durian and longan. The ministry also predicted that the Thai farm sector should expand by about 3 per cent year-on-year on average in 2014. (TNA)