BANGKOK – Thailand’s Finance Ministry has forecast the country’s economic growth at 4% next year as it plans to expand the government’s co-payment economic stimulus scheme, Thai news agency reported.
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said that the Thai economy was bottoming out from its most serious 12% yearly decline in the second quarter of this year and there were clear signs of recovery afterwards.
The economic contraction in the third quarter slowed down to 6% while the foreign exchange reserves stood at US$241 billion (RM982.92 billion) or four times as much as short-term debts.
Public debt, meanwhile, was equivalent to 49.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) while the financial discipline capped public debts’ proportion at 60 per cent of GDP, Arkhom said.
He predicted that GDP would grow by 4 per cent next year and 3-5 per cent yearly in the next five years.
The finance minister said that the government would be introducing measures to stimulate local purchasing power, which would include the second phase of the co-payment scheme next year.
He added that Thailand was financially strong, and this was reflected by Standard & Poor’s BBB+ credit rating for the country.
In response to S&P’s call for Thailand to increase local investment, he said that the government would be investing in infrastructure projects and supporting potential projects.
He said the government did not plan to apply for any other foreign loans next year, other than the US$1.5 billion (RM6.12 billion) loan sought from the Asian Development Bank. – Bernama, November 26, 2020
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