Flood-affected Thai economy projected to fully rebound in 3rd-q 2012

BANGKOK, Feb 4 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has projected that the Thai economy will fully rebound to its normal track in the third quarter of this year and will expand normally from 2013 onward. BOT Assistant Governor Paibul Kittisrikangwan said that the ongoing recovery of the flood-affected Thai economy is boosted by spending on rehabilitation plans in the wake of the country's massive flooding late last year, as well as improving confidence among international investors, increasing domestic consumption and implementing of economic stimulus measures by the Thai government. Paibul acknowledged the central bank found that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year plunged to 1 per cent on average last year, from 4.1 per cent earlier forecast, due to the flooding crisis late last year which damaged 3.1 per cent of the country's GDP, worth as high as some 340 billion baht, a historic loss. According to the BOT assistant governor, in the last quarter of 2011 alone, Thailand's GDP shrank by 7.4 percent from its third quarter-level, noting that the country's total flood-related damage last year was greater than those resulting from the global sub-prime crisis in 2008 and the regional financial crisis in the late 1990s. (TNA)