Thai economy believed to keep expanding

BANGKOK, June 4 (TNA) - The Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, under Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), says that the Thai economy is believed to keep growing, after having gone through global turbulence for a certain period of time. The center's director, Thanawat Phonvichai, made the remarks on June 3, projecting that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) should grow by at least 4.5 per cent year-on-year on average this year. Thanawat also forecast that Thailand's exports should expand by 8-10 per cent year-on-year in 2018, when the Thai baht should hover around 31.50 baht a US dollar, the number of international tourist arrivals in the country should exceed 38 million, world oil prices should stand at about 60 US dollars a barrel and the country's key interest rate should be at about 1.5 per cent. Thanawat noted, however, that his center is monitoring and assessing the updated situation, following the United States' recent imposition of stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products, at 15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, and will release a new public report on its estimation on Thailand's GDP growth in 2018 on average over the next one month. According to the senior Thai economist, the new US measure has created an outcry among European countries and those in the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) bloc, in particular, and his center is following up whether there would be any trade retaliation and whether the response could have any negative impact on the expanding Thai economy. (TNA)