Thailand Raises 2010 Growth Forecast as Exports Jump

Thailand’s Finance Ministry raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for the third time in six months after exports surged in the first half of the year and local demand recovered.

Gross domestic product may expand 7.3 percent to 7.8 percent in 2010, with a mid-point forecast of 7.5 percent, Satit Rungkasiri, head of the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office, said today. The ministry in June raised the estimate to as much as 6 percent from a March projection of as much as 5 percent.