Thai baht surges on prospect of tourism recovery

Illustrative photo (Source: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand’s baht has bounced back sharply over the past few weeks on optimism about the Asian country’s tourism-led growth.

According to Bloomberg, the currency has jumped 4.6% to about 35.3 per USD this month, leading to gains in Asia by a wide margin. In addition to rising forecasts for tourist arrivals, this progress is also being driven by a reduction in the current account deficit due to the fall in oil prices.

The surge means the baht has touched a level of 35.2 forecast for the fourth quarter by analysts polled by Bloomberg, before the nation reports its GDP data on August 15.

Earlier this month, a government spokesman said the country expects to attract 10 million international tourists this year, compared with a forecast of 6.1 million in April. Visitors are seen growing to 30 million people the following year.

The rebound is described as significant for Thailand, given that the travel-related sector accounted for about a fifth of its economy before the COVID-19 pandemic./.

VNA