Thailand has experienced continued economic slowdown with no
sign of recovery in sight, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Kullaya Tantitemit, Executive Director of the ministry’s Macroeconomic
Policy Bureau, said that in September, the Thai economy was further
sluggish in many key sectors. Consumption and export growth further
slowed down when compared to August.
The only sector
experiencing expansion in September was tourism which has become the
pillar of growth for the Thai economy.
Consumption in the
private sector has fallen further. Value added tax collected by the
Finance Ministry decreased by 19.4 percent while the car sale dropped
30.7 percent in September. Exports also recorded a negative growth of
7.1 percent.
Kullaya said in December the ministry will adjust
its economic growth forecast for 2013 again because of the further sign
of sluggishness. The ministry has forecast the country’s economic growth
at 3.7 percent this year.-VNA/NNT