Economic Growth in Thailand Cools to 0.6%

[Utley]

New York Times Hong Kong: It was, until recently, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. It shrugged off coups, street protests and natural disasters. And it earned the nickname “Teflon Thailand.”

But Thailand has been shaken by unrest since November, and it is taking a toll, with potentially lasting effects, on the country’s economy just as regional growth over all is being dragged down by a slowing China and a reduction in stimulus from the United States Federal Reserve.

Data released by the Thai authorities on Monday showed that the economy grew 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2013.

As the protests have dragged on, consumer and business confidence has plummeted. Retailers in the city complain of falling sales. Advertising and property transactions have slowed. Toyota’s chief of operations in Thailand, where the Japanese automaker has large manufacturing sites, cautioned last month that the company might have to reconsider plans for a major investment plan if the unrest continued indefinitely.

“With Thailand’s political crisis still showing no clear signs of an end, the economic outlook is increasingly poor,” Krystal Tan, an analyst in Singapore for Capital Economics, wrote in a research note. “Spending restrictions on the caretaker government leave it with limited ammunition to boost the economy. Large public infrastructure investments have been stalled and are now unlikely to begin soon enough to lift growth significantly in 2014.”

[wym]

Excellent result it didn't end up actually negative!