Thai finance ministry forecasts 4 pct GDP growth in 2021

Source: Xinhua| 2020-11-26 22:51:02|Editor: huaxia

BANGKOK, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Ministry of Finance on Thursday told a symposium in Bangkok that the ministry sees a 4 percent economic growth next year.

"The trajectory in Thai gross domestic product (GDP) growth is obvious, as the ministry is expanding the Thai government's co-payment economic stimulus plan," said Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith at a symposium called Beyond the Pandemic: A Decade of Challenges from 2021.

Arkhom said that the Thai economy had already bottomed out from a steep 12-percent yearly decline in the second quarter.

The economic contraction in the third quarter slowed down to around 6 percent while the foreign exchange reserves stood at 241 billion U.S. dollars, said the minister, adding that public debts were equivalent to 49.4 percent of GDP.

"So we forecast that the Thai GDP will grow by 4 percent next year and a 3 to 5 percent yearly growth in the next five years," Arkhom said.

"The Thai government is already introducing measures to stimulate local purchasing power and that would include the second phase of the co-payment scheme next year," Arkhom said.

Also, Thailand had just borrowed a 1.5-billion-U.S.-dollar loan from the Asian Development Bank this year.

"We are not planning to make another loan in 2021," Arkhom said.

Thailand's state economic planning agency, the National Economic and Social Development Council previously raised its 2020 outlook for a contraction of 6.0 percent from the previous forecast of 7.3 percent to 7.8 percent. Enditem

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