GDP growth this year at 3.2-3.3%

Economic growth this year will stay around 3.2-3.3%, state and commercial  bank executives said.

Kasikorn bank president Kattiya Indaravijaya said overall projection for the economy in 2017 shows signs of experiencing similar levels of growth as 2016.

Hence, the 3.3% growth can be realistically expected driven primarily by the increase in investments from the government as well as the private sector, she said.

Furthermore the fact that tourism continues to enjoy an expansion of 4.8% and current export growth of 0.8%, although small, will no doubt contribute to next year’s growth.

But she warned that the global economic situation and domestic household debt must be kept under close monitoring.

Meanwhile Government Savings bank president and CEO Chatchai Payuhanaveechai said that the general outlook for Thailand’s economy for the remainder of the year is positive with expectations of growth of approximately 3.1%.

He attributed this to an increase in domestic purchasing power, tourism and government investments.

He said exports however remain sluggish but also stated that there were strong signs of improvement when compared to the earlier part of the year.

As such, the bank has adjusted its economic growth projections for this year from the previous 3.1% to 3.2%.

In another development, the Real Estate and Partnerships Trade Association also forecast the overall outlook for the real estate sector thus year  will be gloomy with the growth in small condominium projects in Bangkok contracting by 5%.

Large condominium projects on the other hand will contract by 15% but expectations are that the situation will improve in 2017 and 2018, it predicted.

THAI PBS news 2nd Dec 2016