Thai growth to be on track if next government formed by June - central bank chief

 

FILE PHOTO: Thailand's Central Bank Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob poses during an interview with Reuters at the Bank of Thailand headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's economy is expected to grow 3.8 percent this year as forecast if the next government can be formed by June, the central bank governor said on Friday.

 

Low inflation is not a concern and the central bank will focus more on growth and financial stability risks, Veerathai Santiprabhob told an analysts meeting.

 

Thailand held an election on March 24, its first since a 2014 coup, but the outcome remains uncertain and might not be known until after official results are due on May 9.

 

The central bank has left its policy interest rate unchanged at 1.75 percent since tightening in December for the first time since 2011. It will next review policy on May 8.

 

Thailand reported its strongest economic growth in six years in 2018, at 4.1 percent, but still lagged the Philippines' 6.2 percent, Indonesia's 5.17 percent and Malaysia's 4.7 percent.

 

(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Kim Coghill)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-19

The outcome will never be known 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai growth to be on track if next government formed by June - central bank chief

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's economy is expected to grow 3.8 percent this year as forecast if the next government can be formed by June

If he means it will be on track when SCB's recent prediction of 3.6% versus a previous expectation of 3.8% ( https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1094746-thai-economy-shows-good-performance-scb/?utm_source=newsletter-20190412-0608&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

) and earlier  prediction of 4-4.5%, then MAYBE.

SCB's forecast is based on a further increase in the number of Chinese tourists. And yet the Association of Thai Travel Agents said that ,

• in the first quarter of this year, the number of foreign visitors is expected to improve slightly from the same quarter of last year
• At least 1 million Chinese visited on each the first two months of the year, and this slightly lower than for the same period a year before.   http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Tourism/30367928

Looks like regardless of who the next government is, a 3.6% annual rate itself looks very optimistic.

The truth is that the EC's incompetency will cause the economy to decline as there will be budget delays, public and private decisions delays. The Central Bank Chief is not forthright with his comment. 

until the next government discovers just how poisened the chalice is

 

or till this one keeps the full extent of its sticky paws secret

 

still be interested to know about depletion of foreign reserves and correlation with increase in pm and crony savings