BANGKOK (NNT) – Ministry of Finance is going to reassess Thai GDP growth after seeing positive signs after the government eased the regulations. It predicted that Thai GDP will no longer shrink by 8.5 as previously forecast.
Mr. Wuttipong Jittangsakul, Fiscal Policy Advisor, a deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, revealed that, even though the economy has been decelerating because of the COVID-19, there are positive signs in agriculture, heavy industry and consumption. VAT collection grew by 4.3 percent in the agricultural industry, which has been growing for 2 months at 9.2 percent per year.
The consumer confidence index has also risen for four months straight, after the government eased measures to prevent COVID-19, making economic activities more resilient. One of the factors is financial support for affected people, helping to increase spending.
Private investment also improved, especially in the machinery category. This was reflected in the improvement of the import volume of capital goods and vehicle sales.
Construction investment remains stable. While the real estate transaction tax dropped by 6.9 percent. Demand for food products, household-related products, disease prevention products and speculative products, such as gold, continues to expand. As the economy recovers, the FPO will reassess its forecast for this year in October.
