BANGKOK, 26 July 2012 – The Thai central bank has revised downward its economic growth projection for this year, while hinting an intention to lower the 2012 inflation target.
Bank of Thailand (BoT)’s Assistant Governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said that the BoT has lowered its GDP growth forecast from 6.0 percent to 5.7 percent for this year, and from 5.4 percent to 5.0 percent for next year.
Mr. Paiboon said that the downward revision was due to the impact of the global crisis on Thai exports, which appeared to be more severe than the central bank had initially estimated.
In addition, the BoT has adjusted downward the 2012 export growth projection from 8 percent to 7 percent.
The BoT’s Assistant Governor added that the bank’s headline inflation target for 2012 has been lowered from 3.3 percent to 2.9 percent while the core inflation target has been adjusted to 2.2 percent.
Mr. Paiboon stated that all revisions have been mostly caused by external factors and also by the outlook of the Thai economy during the remainder of the year.
