BOT maintains 2021 economic forecast, expects only 200,000 visitors this year
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) announced on Wednesday that it had maintained its estimation of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 at 0.7 per cent expansion, but increased its forecast of 2022 GDP to 3.9 per cent from its August estimation of 3.7 per cent.
“The expansion of Thailand’s economy has been slowed down by the spreading Delta variant of Covid-19 since earlier this year, but the economy is estimated to gradually recover in late 2021 and continue this trend throughout 2022, thanks to more comprehensive vaccine distribution and easing of lockdown measures,” said Thitanan Mullikamas, BOT’s assistant governor of monetary policy and secretary-general of the Monetary Policy Committee.
“Despite the economic recovery trend, there are still factors that could hinder projected economic growth, such as the new mutated variant of the virus, the confidence of people and businesses after lockdown measures are lifted, and the supply disruption caused by the impact of the outbreak,” he pointed out.
The central bank also lowered its estimate on private consumption in 2021 from 2.5 per cent expansion down to zero per cent, but increased its 2022 estimation from 3.4 per cent expansion to 5.7 per cent. Furthermore, it adjusted down the estimation of total foreign tourists in 2021 from 700,000 to 200,000 visitors. The estimated number of foreign tourists in 2022 was also lowered from 10 million to 6 million.
