Thailand's GDP growth slowed to 1.8% in the second quarter despite recovery in the tourism sector.(Photo:asia.nikkei.com) Hanoi (VNA) – Despite experiencing a strongrecovery in tourism sector, Thailand’s economy grew at a much-slower-than-expected pace in the second quarter of 2023, as weak exports and the lingeringin new government formation have prompted the Southeast Asian country to lower its 2023 growth forecast.
TheNational Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said that Thailand'sgross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.8% in the reviewed period from a yearearlier, well below the average 3% expansion recorded by Bloomberg’s survey.
Accordingto Nikkei Asia newspaper, the country's GDP had risen 2.6% year-on-year in the first quarter.
In a recent report, the NESDC said that the economywas mainly driven by the acceleration of private consumption despite theslowdown of private investment and export of services.
Particularly, private consumption expendituresincreased 7.8% in Q2 of this year, accelerating from a 5.8% of the previousquarter.
Revenue from tourism in the Q2 of 2023 increased by 71.7% over the same period in 2022. It is expectedthat Thailand will welcome 29 million foreign tourists in 2023, up from 11.5 millionarrivals in last year.
The global demand weakness prompted the government to cut its2023 GDP growth forecast to between 2.5% and 3.0% from a range of 2.7% to3.7%./.
