BANGKOK, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Thai Ministry of Finance has on Monday announced that its Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) has revised its forecast on the country's economic growth rate for year 2019 from 3 percent to 2.8 percent.
The office factored the downward revision rate to the sluggish world economic growth.
FPO director-general Lawan Saengsanit said that the economic downturn in Thailand's trading partners has impacted Thai exports this year, with exports expected to shrink further by 2.5 percent against previous projection of minus 0.9 percent.
However, Lawan remained optimistic, noting that the growth projection for the second half of the year is expected to be 3.1 percent, compared to 2.6 percent for the first half, thanks to the Thai government's stimulus packages which was introduced during the second half of the year, such as the Chim-Shop-Chai (Eat-Shop-Spend) scheme, living allowance for farmers whose crops were affected by drought, and price guarantee for cash crops and housing credits.
As in regards to tourism, Lawan said the earlier forecast of 40 million tourists visiting Thailand this year is revised to 39.8 million instead, bringing in projected revenues of 1.98 trillion baht.
"The economic growth projection for next year is forecast to be 3.3 percent, with exports expected to grow by 2.6 percent, against a 3.4 percent projected growth in imports," said Lawan, "Private sector investment is set to increase by 6.6 percent with a 3.5 percent expansion in private sector consumption."
Lawan however said the economic outlook for the third quarter of the year remains grim, with signs of a further slowdown in exports and imports.
