TMB Bank says Thai economy likely to grow by 3.5% this year

BANGKOK, 25 January 2016 (NNT) - TMB Bank Public Company Limited has forecast that the Thai economy will expand by 3.5% this year due to the government’s economic stimulus measures.

Chief Executive of TMB Bank Boontak Wangcharoen has said the Thai economy will begin to recover this year. Contributing factors including government spending, private investments and tourism growth.

However, Mr. Boontak has cautioned that Thailand's growth is also subject to other factors, namely the global economy, drought crisis, U.S. interest rate policy and capital flows. The Thai export sector is likely to experience direct impact from the slowing Chinese economy.


-- NNT 2016-01-25

May'be I am just a cynic, but the thought of the Thai MILITARY Bank projecting growth did not shock me at all!

May'be I am just a cynic, but the thought of the Thai MILITARY Bank projecting growth did not shock me at all!

Well it's not the Thai Military Bank any more, and is a very different institution than it was just ten years ago, never mind back when Sarit founded it. The Army now has only about a 1% stake. In fact the biggest shareholder is the ING Group, making it the most international of Thailand's major commercial banks - three of the seven chief officers are Dutch. Judging by the industry awards they've been winning lately, most recently at last year's Asian Summit, they're also now almost certainly the best managed bank in Thailand.

None of which makes their economic forecasting necessarily more or less accurate than any other Thai bank, but it's a lot more relevant than their historical link to the Army.

Two weeks ago the TMB predicted that Thailand’s exports should grow at 1.8% this year while the BOT predicted flat export growth. For TMB to predict twice the GDP growth of 3.5% this year would require a massive economic stimulus not seen to date by the Prayut government and tripling of tourism over last year.

Simply not going to happen.

another "believer"

Seeing how TAT flaunt all sorts of nonsense figures, the junta is set to spend ridiculous money on infrastructure this year and banks urged to support SMB finance, you could forgive TMB for making this very positive but unlikely assertion.

May'be I am just a cynic, but the thought of the Thai MILITARY Bank projecting growth did not shock me at all!

Well it's not the Thai Military Bank any more, and is a very different institution than it was just ten years ago, never mind back when Sarit founded it. The Army now has only about a 1% stake. In fact the biggest shareholder is the ING Group, making it the most international of Thailand's major commercial banks - three of the seven chief officers are Dutch. Judging by the industry awards they've been winning lately, most recently at last year's Asian Summit, they're also now almost certainly the best managed bank in Thailand.

None of which makes their economic forecasting necessarily more or less accurate than any other Thai bank, but it's a lot more relevant than their historical link to the Army.

Edited January 25, 201610 yr by chiang mai

I expected nothing less from the Thai MILITARY Bank!

After all TIT