BANGKOK, July 31 — University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) has lowered its projection and now expects the Thai economy will grow by only 2.2 per cent this year.
President Sauwanee Thairungroj said the UTCC revised the forecast downwards from 2.5 per cent as uncertainty continued with the global economy, farm product prices remained low, household debts were huge and the costs of production and living were increasing.
Those would cause consumption in the private sector to grow by only 1.2 per cent, Thai exports to increase by only 1.8 per cent and investment to shrink by 0.4 per cent.
She said that the number of visitors to Thailand would drop 5.9 per cent to 24.9 million and tourism-related income would fall by 2.8 per cent to Bt1.17 trillion this year.
Prof Sauwanee said that the Thai economy fell by 0.4 per cent in the first half of this year but would pick up steadily in the second half because the national administration by the National Council for Peace and Order boosted confidence among consumers and investment in the government and the private sector and tourism were likely to improve from August onwards.
Thanawat Polvichai, director of the UTCC Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, said that next year the economy should grow by 5 per cent as exports would increase by 5-7 per cent due to the global economic recovery and transport investment in the country would rise by 13.3 per cent.
