Posted by Arno Maierbrugger on September 27, 2013
Thailand’s Finance Ministry has cut the 2013 economic growth estimate for the country to 3.7 per cent from a previous estimate of 4.5 per cent, the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office said on September 26.
The new GDP growth range is between 3.5 and 4 per cent, down from the previous 4 to 5 per cent, the office said. The estimate cut follows an earlier cut by the government’s economic planning agency in August from to 3.8 to 4.3 per cent from 4.2 to 5.2 per cent.
Fiscal Policy Office Director-General Somchai Sujjapongse said the downward revision was made due to a slowdown in Thai export growth, which is expected at 1.8 per cent this year.
The Thai economy entered a technical recession in the quarter ending June, when it contracted 0.3 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the first quarter. The GDP was 1.7 per cent lower in the first three months of 2013 compared with the previous period.
Somchai said he was confident, however, that the Thai GDP won’t contract in the third and the fourth quarters of 2013, when substantial government spending is expected. For 2014, the forecast for Thailand’s GDP growth is in the 4.6 to 5.6 per cent range, with the estimated target of 5.1 per cent.
