The Bank of Thailand (BoT) forecasts that the economy bottomed out in the third quarter and should gradually pick up from the fourth quarter, due to progress in the vaccination rollout and relaxation of the government’s containment measures.
The BoT’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) secretary Titanun Mallikamas said lockdown measures to contain the Delta variant took a toll on the economy, with weaker economic activities in the third quarter. However, the government’s progress on mass vaccination and eased containment measures should support the economy in the period ahead.
He said the MPC meeting on Wednesday voted unanimously to maintain the policy rate at the existing level of 0.5% as the committee believes the economy in 2021 and 2022 will expand close to the projections from its previous meeting.
He said the most important issue for the economy is the implementation of public health measures which will help facilitate economic and income recovery, adding that the economy in 2022 should gradually recover, mainly due to domestic spending in tandem with improving confidence. (NNT)
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