WB revises Thailand's projected growth for 2015

BANGKOK, October 5 (TNA) - The US-based World Bank has revised its projection of Thailand's economic growth to 2.5 per cent in 2015, from its earlier forecast of 3 per cent. Shabih Ali Mohib, the World Bank’s senior economist for East Asia and the Pacific, told journalists in Bangkok on Monday that the revised economic growth figure for Thailand this year appears to be a slowest rate among member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Mohib reasoned that Thailand has structural problems in its administration and needs some times to solve them. The World Bank's senior economist recommended that Thailand further develop its infrastructure and products to meet global market demands, as well as increase government investment and improve public education to enhance national competitiveness and sustain national economic growth in the long run. The World Bank viewed that the Thai economy was depending on government investment, which could increase by 3.5 per cent, and on tourism-related revenues which should keep growing, thanks to the improving domestic political situation. Besides, the World Bank predicted that Thai exports should grow only by 0.8 per cent, compared with the entire economy of East Asia at 6.5 per cent this year. The World Bank also predicted that the Thai economy would expand by 2 per cent in 2016 and 2.4 per cent in 2017, while Thai exports should grow by 1.8 per cent in 2016 and 1.3 per cent in 2017. For the Chinese economy, the World Bank forecast that negative factors would cause the immense Chinese economy to expand by 6.7 per cent next year, before slowing down gradually due to more conservative economic policies. (TNA)