New election, key factor to drive Thai economy forward

BANGKOK, February 21 (TNA) - Bangkok-based Kasikornbank (KBank) sees that Thailand's new general election should be a key factor to drive the national economy forward, on top of the 3.9 per cent year-on-year growth in 2017. Kobsit Silpachai, KBank's economic and capital market research head, made the assessment on February 20, noting that international investors are monitoring updates of Thailand's political reform, especially a clear schedule of the new general election. Kobsit said if the new general election was held by the end of this year as laid out in the Thai military government's roadmap, international investors would be more confident in the Thai economy, resulting in more private investment projects in the country and more national economic expansion. Besides, a clear schedule of Thailand's new general election should lead to electoral campaigns by political parties, expected to be mostly focused on policies to support over 10 million farmers in the country, resulting in more income distribution to the local agricultural sector and its related businesses, including the production and sale of fertilizers and farm raw materials, and in rising purchasing power of people and the overall domestic consumption. Given the existing factors, the KBank executive initially projected that the Thai economy should grow by about 4 per cent year-on-year in 2018 pending the rebounding private investment. The KBank executive expressed his view, however, that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 3.9 per cent year-on-year in 2017, as officially announced by the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (ONESDB) recently, was lower than the country's full potential, caused by a slow recovery of domestic demand for goods and services despite improving exports. According to the KBank executive, Thailand's GDP growth last year should rather stand around 5 per cent year-on-year. (TNA)