Thailand
Thailand: Optimism about Q1 growth
Thailand’s economy in the first quarter is expected to have fared better than the 3% growth in the previous quarter, boosted by rising exports, recovering farm prices, improving private consumption and tourism as well as accelerated spending by state agencies and enterprises, says the government’s planning unit.
Porametee Vimolsiri, the secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), said the economic data from the first two months showed a more promising trend than the October-December period of last year. “We expect the economic performance in the first quarter of this year to be higher than the 3% growth recorded in the fourth quarter last year,” he said. “The key contributors include growing exports, tourism and agricultural product prices, and higher private consumption. More importantly, the government itself is revving up spending and developing big-ticket infrastructure projects.”
Mr Porametee said the government’s extra 190 billion baht in mid-year budget for fiscal 2017 to finance local development of 18 clusters of provinces will also help stimulate the development of rural areas this year. The NESDB is scheduled to announce the economic figures for the first quarter of this year on May 15.
The NESDB is maintaining its economic growth forecast at 3-4% growth for this year, an average of 3.5%.
The growth prospects are supported by an expansion of the export sector, which will help manufacturing and private investment recover; an acceleration of agricultural production and farm income, which will support the expansion of household consumption; quicker public investment; and a tourism boom.
The NESDB projected in February that export value would grow by 2.9% this year, with private consumption and total investment up by 2.8% and 5.3%.
Headline inflation is seen in a range of 1.2-2.2% for 2017. Government investment is projected to grow by 14.4% this year, considered relatively high, up from 11.2% in the previous projection, mainly driven by hefty investment from state agencies at 546 billion baht and state enterprises at 580 billion.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1233842/optimism-about-q1-growth