Inflation sees biggest jump in 23 months
INFLATION jumped by 0.60% in November with this being the highest in 23 months, Trade Policy and Strategy Office Director Pimchanok Vonkhorporn told Thai News Agency today.
Due to many factors this office expects inflation to climb by 1.5 to 2% next year.
Where the exchange rate is concerned, Ms Pimchanok expects this to be in the range of 35.50 to 37.50 baht to the US dollar which means it will weaken slightly.
Meanwhile, state and commercial bank executives expect this year’s economic growth to stay around 3.2-3.3%, Thai PBS said yesterday.
Kasikorn bank president Kattiya Indaravijaya’s overall economic projection for 2017 is that it should see similar levels of growth as 2016.
Hence, a 3.3% growth can be realistically expected to be driven primarily by the increase in investments from the government as well as the private sector, she said.
Furthermore the fact that tourism continues to enjoy an expansion of 4.8% and current export growth of 0.8%, although small, will no doubt contribute to next year’s growth.
But she warned that the global economic situation and domestic household debt must be closely monitored.
Meanwhile Government Savings bank president and CEO Chatchai Payuhanaveechai said that the general outlook for Thailand’s economy for the remainder of the year is positive with expectations of growth of approximately 3.1%.
He attributed this to an increase in domestic purchasing power, tourism and government investments.
He said exports, however, remain sluggish but also pointed out that there were strong signs of improvement when compared to the earlier part of the year.
As such, the bank has adjusted its economic growth projections for this year from the previous 3.1% to 3.2%.
In another development, the Real Estate and Partnerships Trade Association said the overall outlook of the real estate sector this year is gloomy with the growth in small condominium projects in Bangkok contracting by 5%.
Large condominium projects on the other hand will contract by 15% but this association does expect the situation to improve in 2017 and 2018, Thai PBS added.
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Top: Phuket’s stunning sunsets are among a host of factors pushing tourism higher. Photo:William Cho (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
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