Posted on 30 Aug 2012
Thailand’s gross domestic product growth for 2012 is projected at 5.5 per cent and inflation at 3.4 per cent, Su Sian Lim, an economist at the HSBC Bank, said on Tuesday.
The economist expected the Thai economy to grow by 4.5 per cent next year, while the inflation would rise to 3.8 per cent.
Ms Lim psaid she expected the central bank’s repurchase rate would be kept unchanged at three per cent until the end this year and would be lifted to 3.8 per cent next year.
The exchange rate for the Thai baht at the end of the year would stand at 30.90 baht per US dollar, and it would strengthen 30.00 baht a dollar in 2013, she predicted.
She believed the economies of countries in Asia would continue to grow despite the impact of the eurozone debt crisis and economic recession in the USA.
She said the economies of these countries expanded beyond expectation in the first half of the year because a substantial increase in domestic demand helped offset the decline in exports caused by the global financial crisis.
