BOT:Thai economy is likely to grow nearly 5% in 2015

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has projected that the country's economic growth should return to its normal rate in 2015, at about 4.8 per cent, as domestic consumption should grow by 4.6 per cent and private investment should increase by 10.2 per cent. Paiboon Kittisrikangwan, BOT Assistant Governor for Monetary Policy, told journalists on Friday although investment in the public sector is expected to expand close to its growth rate this year, by 2.5 per cent, due to uncertainty on whether new infrastructure development projects will be implemented, the value of Thai exports should expand by 7.7 per cent next year and Thai imports by 9.1 per cent, boosted by the growing domestic consumption and investment. Paiboon said that there are also no concerns over Thailand's inflation despite the rising prices of cooking gas and ready-to-eat food products, forecasting that the country's inflation should run at 2.5 per cent this year and 2.3 per cent next year. Meanwhile, the BOT revised Thailand's economic growth rate downwards to 2.7 per cent this year, from its earlier expected rate of 3 per cent, reasoning that domestic consumption has increased by only 0.3 per cent and private investment has shrunk by 0.5 per cent, while investment in the public sector has grown by only 2.5 per cent, as the House dissolution late last year has delayed the 2015 budget allocation by one quarter, the government's investment in its water management schemes dropped to only 12 billion baht, covering only waterway dredging and road maintenance, and the government's infrastructure investment has declined to 17 billion baht, accounting for 25 per cent of its originally planned investment. . The assistant BOT governor acknowledged that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate may be further revised downwards, after the Constitution Court's ruling earlier in the day to nullify the February 2 general election, which drags on the country's political uncertainty and the formation of the new Thai government, thus, remains unlikely. According to the BOT assistant governor, if domestic political strife relieved in mid-2014, private consumption and investment in the country would gradually return to normal and Thai exports would grow in accordance with the global economic recovery, by 4.5 per cent this year, but risk factors remain, namely the domestic political situation, which may continue until the second half of this year, and the overall economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which may slow down more than expected. (TNA)