BANGKOK, July 20 (TNA) – Thailand’s economy has already
bottomed out in the second quarter and is expected to recover around the end of
next year, says the central bank’s chief.
Speaking at a seminar on Monday, Bank of Thailand’s Governor
Veerathai Santiprabhob said the economy had passed the worst point in the
second quarter when lockdown measures were in place.
Veerathai said the economy had started to pick up this
quarter and would fully attain the pre-COVID-19 level at the end of next year,
assuming a widespread administration of a coronavirus vaccine.
The Bank of Thailand has revised down Thailand’s GDP for
this year from 5.3 percent to 8.1 percent contraction. The economy is forecast to expand by 5
percent in 2021.
An 8.1% GDP contraction would be the country’s biggest GDP
decline ever, surpassing the plunge during the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
Veerathai, however, predicted that Thailand would not face
the same impacts as experienced during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997
because the stronger macroeconomic, healthier financial institutions and lower
debt. (TNA)
