Thai tourism to stimulate national economy in 2015

BANGKOK, April 7 (TNA) - Thailand's Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) says that domestic tourism should be a major factor to stimulate the national economy this year. JSCCIB Chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree told journalists on Tuesday that the national economy has been slowly recovering with domestic tourism having particularly expanded by 29 per cent. Supant projected that Thailand should attract at least 28 million international visitors this year. The JSCCIB chair also urged the government to accelerate its spending on public projects, including investment plans, to also help stimulate the national economy, pointing out that only 43 per cent of total state budget has been disbursed. The JSCCIB chair assessed that the government's investment projects should start to play their roles in the national economy in the third and fourth quarters of this year. The JSCCIB chair also foresaw that private investment should reach Thailand's special economic zones late this year, while domestic consumption remains slow because of low prices of farm products. JSCCIB, meanwhile, maintained its forecast that the Thai economy should expand by 3.5 per cent this year. JSCCIB also revised its prediction of Thailand's export growth this year to no more than 1 per cent on average, from its earlier forecast of 3.5 per cent due to remaining global economic problems. (TNA)