Thailand's economic recovery intact despite global slowdown: Central bank Governor

Bangkok, Oct 5

Thailand's central bank Governor has said that the Southeast Asian country's economic recovery would remain intact despite the global economic volatility.

The Thai economy is expected to grow 3.3 per cent year-on-year in 2022 and 3.8 per cent in 2023, boosted by improving consumption and the tourism sector, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told a business seminar on Tuesday.

The BOT expects the number of foreign tourist arrivals to reach 9.5 million in 2022 and 21 million in 2023, compared with more than 400,000 in 2021 and a peak of nearly 40 million in 2019 before the pandemic, Xinhua news agency reported.

Thailand welcomed 4.38 million tourists in the first eight months of the year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Sethaput said the headline inflation growth would stand at 6.3 per cent this year, before declining to 2.6 per cent in 2023, within the annual target range of 1-3 per cent.

Fueled by surging energy and food prices, Thailand's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 7.86 per cent year-on-year in August, the highest level since July 2008, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.