BANGKOK, June 22 (TNA) – The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) significant safety concerns on Thai air transport safety standard are temporary problems and will not affect the Thai economy but global economic problems raised a big concern because they have impacts on Thai export, said Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
Mr. Supant said that there was only one MERS-CoV patient in Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health could control it, and no tourists canceled their planned trips to the country. He expected the disease issue would end in about two weeks.
Regarding the ICAO’s red flag symbol for Thailand, the FTI chairman said that the problem had risen for a while and the government was seriously solving it. He said the problem would be cleared and thus should not have any impact on the national economy.
Mr Supant warned about the Thai export. He said it was facing obstacles from global economic problems and the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking would revise its forecast on the Thai export growth early next month. It predicted the export would grow by 1% this year while the Bank of Thailand expects it to fall by 1.5%.
Yol Phokasub, president of Siam Commercial Bank, said the Thai economy was bottoming out and its recovery would be noticeable in the second half of this year as the government was speeding up its spending and investing in infrastructure development and tourism was picking up. (TNA)
