BANGKOK, Nov 3 — The Bank of Thailand (BoT) says that the Thai economy is picking up slowly.
It hopes for the quick disbursement of government budgets to stimulate the economy late this year.
Roong Mallikamas, BoT senior director for its Macroeconomic and Monetary Policy Department, said the Monetary Policy Committee will meet Wednesday to consider economic performance figures and the repurchase rate that was at 2 per cent annually year as the national economy in the third quarter recovered quite slowly and unclearly in all sectors.
Demand in the private sector play a greater role in driving the economy but low prices of farm products and high household debt are limiting consumption. In addition, slow government spending is limiting investment in the private sector, said Ms Roong.
She said the BoT hopes that government spending will improve in the rest of this year. The bank will review its national economic growth forecast on Dec 26.
At present, the central bank predicts the economy will grow by 1.5 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent next year.
However, demand for consumer products is gaining momentum in the private sector and the importation of such products is rising.
Meanwhile, consumers’ confidence is growing continuously.
However, spending on durable goods, especially automobiles, has not recovered due to high household debt and strict lending controls by financial institutions.
According to Ms Roong, the value of Thai exports fell by 1.7 per cent in the third quarter although that in September rose by 2.2 per cent.
International demand for products has slowed because the economies of trading partners, especially European countries, Japan and Middle East nations, have not clearly improved.
Thailand also has limited production of high-technology products and is thus inferior to competitors.
