Economics
Thai Economic Slide Slows as Stimulus Counters Virus Impact
- Third-quarter GDP contraction at 6.4% beats forecast of -8.8%
- Government spending seen driving 3.5%-4.5% growth next year
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Thailand’s economy improved in the third quarter after the government implemented a series of stimulus measures and eased restrictions on movement as it brought the country’s Covid-19 outbreak largely under control.
Gross domestic product shrank 6.4% from a year ago, the National Economic and Social Development Council said Monday, recovering from the prior quarter’s revised 12.1% contraction at the peak of the outbreak. The figure was better than the median estimate of 8.8% contraction in a Bloomberg survey of 19 economists. The council also raised its full-year forecast to a 6% contraction, from an earlier estimate of a 7.3% to 7.8% drop.