UTCC calls for tourism stimulus, swift budget disbursement to boost GDP growth
Thailand’s economy is expected to expand by just 0.5 – 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, said Thanavath Phonvichai, the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC)'s president of advisors.
Given the expectation that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis would subside in March or April, the government should start stimulating tourism and speed up disbursement of the national budget to boost growth of gross domestic product (GDP).
The survey showed that consumer confidence index in January 2020 stood at 45.4 points, down 0.3 points from December 2019.
Agriculture, consumption and trading were hit badly, partly due to a 1.28 per cent drop in export in December 2019. The SET Index fell 65.70 points, from 1,579.84 to 1,514.14 in January 2020 amid the baht's depreciation and delay of the national budget bill.
PM2.5 pollution, Covid-19 outbreak and severe drought were other negative factors dampening economic growth while positive ones included low interest rate and oil price. But most important was that people still had no confidence in this government, Thanawat said.
