Thailand’s economy has already bottomed out in the second quarter and is expected to recover around the end of next year, says the central bank’s chief.
Speaking at a seminar on Monday, Bank of Thailand’s Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said the economy had passed the worst point in the second quarter when lockdown measures were in place.
Veerathai said the economy had started to pick up this quarter and would fully attain the pre-COVID-19 level at the end of next year, assuming a widespread administration of a coronavirus vaccine.
The Bank of Thailand has revised down Thailand’s GDP for this year from 5.3 percent to 8.1 percent contraction. The economy is forecast to expand by 5 percent in 2021.
An 8.1% GDP contraction would be the country’s biggest GDP decline ever, surpassing the plunge during the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
Veerathai, however, predicted that Thailand would not face the same impacts as experienced during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 because the stronger macroeconomic, healthier financial institutions and lower debt. (TNA)
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