Posted on 25 Mar 2009
Thai Finance Minister expects economy to contract 3% this year
As the global economy continues to contract, Thailand's Ministry of Finance has further revised its national economic projections to shrink three per cent this year. This was lower than its earlier projection of a zero to two per cent contraction, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Monday.
Mr. Korn told the House of Representatives earlier that the world economy was in bad shape and if the government just sat idle, Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) could contract as much as 8-9 per cent and the number of unemployed could soar to two million later this year.
The government was working hard to hold up GDP, he said, but it could still contract as much as a further 5 per cent if exports fell sharply.
