BANGKOK, July 7 – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has lowered its 2013 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projection by 0.9 per cent to 4.2 per cent from the 5.1 per cent given in the previous projection, in line with the delayed global recovery and moderate domestic demand.
Releasing the July 2013 issue of the Monetary Policy Report Paiboon Kittisrikangwan, BoT assistant to the governor and secretary of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said that given the slow growth registered in China and Asia, Thailand’s export recovery is expected to be delayed.
The 2014 GDP is projected to grow at five per cent as earlier projected.
He said that 2013 exports are projected to grow four per cent, down from the previously forecast 7.5 per cent. 2014 exports are expected to grow at eight per cent, instead of the earlier projected 10 per cent.
Inflation readings will likely remain low. Both demand and cost pressures have subsided in line with a moderate demand outlook and the lower projected path of global oil and commodity prices, coupled with the increase in domestic prices of liquefied petroleum gas that has been postponed for another two months, the BoT statement said.
Headline inflation this year is projected at 2.3 per cent, lower than the earlier 2.7 per cent, and core inflation at 1.1 per cent down from 1.6 per cent, according to the BoT.
