Thailand’s economy is recovering but unevenly across sectors, said the Bank of Thailand (BoT) on Friday, pointing to the latest resurgence of the Covid-19 outbreak and its impacts.
Private consumption in December expanded year-on-year by 2.7 per cent, but the new wave of the outbreak had hit travelling and consumer confidence, especially in areas where strict containment measures have been imposed.
The tourism sector, a key economic driver for the nation, contracted severely as travel restrictions remained in place, the bank noted. Foreign tourist arrivals increased from the previous month after some travel bans were eased, “but remained small,” they added.
Foreign tourist arrivals were around 6.7 million for 2020, down from 39.9 million in 2019.
The Bank of Thailand said it expects tourist arrivals to slump to 5.5 million this year before rebounding to 23 million in 2022. The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) from the Finance Ministry cut the number of tourist arrivals this year to 5 million this year, down from the previously estimated 8 million.
The central bank said there were improvements in the indicators of merchandise exports value, private investment, and public spending in December, together with less negative headline inflation, at -0.27 per cent, from rising energy prices and a slight decline in unemployment rate.
“Labour-market conditions improved but still exhibited signs of vulnerabilities and uneven recovery,” said the BoT.
The central bank maintained its projection for national economy growth at 3.2 per cent, with the possibility to lower it from the prolonged impact of Covid-19 pandemic. The FPO lowered its growth projection on Thursday to 2.8 per cent from 4.5 per cent.