ADB revises up Thailand’s GDP growth forecast for this year

The report released on Tuesday shows that the project remains unchanged from ADB’s previous estimate in April.

Economies in the region had shown 4.3% growth in 2022 thanks to robust domestic demand.

The report also said that inflation was consistently trending downwards towards pre-Covid levels owing to dropping fuel and food prices.

For Thailand, ADB revised up its growth projection from 3.3% to 3.5% for this year but maintained 3.7% for 2024.

It said the projection for this year was revised upward because of unexpectedly strong private consumption and service exports in the first half.

Private spending has picked up due to improved crop yields and higher income, particularly from tourism and tourism-related businesses.

The forecast for arrivals has been revised up from 28 million to 30 million for this year and to 36 million for next year.

However, household debts remain high even though financial institutions are easing the repayment burden for retail borrowers to sustain economic recovery.

Separately, inflation in developing Asian countries is expected to stand at 3.6% this year, down from the estimate of 4.2% in April.

In 2024, inflation is expected to rise to 3.4% slightly up from the previous estimate of 3.3% in April.

ADB noted that the reopening of China has stimulated economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. China’s economic growth has been forecast at 5% this year, unchanged from the estimate in April, due to a strong service sector.

However, developing Asian countries’ export ambitions are being hampered due to tight monetary policies in larger developing economies.