Finance Minister expects Thai economy to grow 4 percent next year

Thailand’s Minister of Finance is forecasting that the Kingdom’s economy should bounce back from the Covid-19 recession and achieve about 4 percent growth next year.

“Without Covid-19, our economy could have expanded 3 percent in 2020. Next year, we expect 4 percent growth. As we expect a 6 percent contraction this year, there is an output gap of 9 percent,” said Minister of Finance Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

Thailand has achieved an impressive public health victory in its battle to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus singled out Thailand for praise at the World Health Assembly.

“Thailand’s numbers speak for themselves. Thailand is an excellent example that, with a whole-of-government, whole-of-society, comprehensive approach, this virus can be contained — even without a vaccine,” Tedros said.

However, the global recession has adversely affected the Kingdom’s economy and businesses. Thailand’s economy already bottomed out earlier in the middle of this year, while the recovery and resurgence have been on the rise.

The pandemic has hampered Thailand’s bounce-back since some of the Kingdom’s important export markets are still struggling with the virus and not importing Thai goods in as large volumes as before.

The Thai government’s measures of restricted entry of people into the Kingdom during the pandemic is beginning to loosen and it is highly likely that tourism will start to pick up again soon.

With its public health situation under control, Thailand is well-positioned to reap the trade, investment and economic benefits next year as vaccines become available and other countries mount more robust recoveries.

Photo courtesy of https://www.tourismthailand.org/Home