BANGKOK, 30 April 2014 – According to the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), Thailand has seen a negative 0.2 percent economic growth during the first quarter of this year.
Kulaya Tantitemit, the executive director for macroeconomic policy, said that the FPO will maintain its forecast for this year’s economic growth at 2.6 percent. However, she expects the country’s economy to recover for the rest of this year. Despite the expected growth, the Thai economy has contracted by 0.2 percent in the first quarter due to the ongoing political uncertainty that has slowed down domestic consumption and impaired consumers’ confidence, which dropped to the lowest point in 12 years.
Ms. Kulaya added that the revenue collected from value-added taxes (VAT) in March shrunk 1.2 percent while taxes on imported goods dropped 7.4 percent.
To make matters worse, the fuel and agricultural sector also saw a lower-than-expected export growth, which resulted in a 3.1 percent decline in overall exports for the third month of last year.
Despite some negative signs, the FPO is still optimistic that the economy will bounce back for the rest of 2014, especially after the country has formed a new government.
