Thailand's Finance Ministry has downgraded its growth forecast for the country to 2.8 percent (Photo: VNA) Kulaya Tantitemit, acting head of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), said while stimulus measures have been launched to prop up the economy and the export market is expected to rebound this year, the massive drop in foreign tourists has had the biggest impact on the economy.
The revision is in line with the projection that foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand this year will fall further to 5 million, compared with 8 million predicted earlier, leading to lower tourism revenue.
International tourism receipts are forecast at 260 billion THB in 2021, down from 330 billion THB (11 billion USD) expected earlier, according to the FPO.
Thailand’s tourism sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 fallout.
In 2019, Thailand welcomed 39.9 million foreign tourist arrivals who spent about 1.91 trillion THB, equivalent to nearly 11.3 percent of the GDP. However, the foreign visitor number plunged to 6.7 million in 2020.
The FPO also forecast exports will expand to 6.2 percent in 2021 based on an economic recovery for Thailand's major trading partners.
Earlier this month, the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of Thailand said the GDP growth could drop below the 3.2 percent baseline due to lower foreign arrivals. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking forecast the Thai economy will grow by 1.5 - 3.5 percent this year if the government fails to control the new wave of COVID-19 in three months./.
VNA
