Economy in fisrt 5 months expanded continuously despite political rift

BANGKOK, 12 July 2010 (NNT) – The Economic Cabinet meeting acknowledges the economic situation in the first five months of 2010 which continuously expands despite political impact, while the tourism sector that has just recovered in June is deemed to turn normal by year-end.

According to a report by the Bank of Thailand (BoT) presented to the Economic Cabinet, the tourism sector got the most impact from political rift within the past five months and had just been revived in June. The sector was deemed to turn normal by year-end. However, overall economic situation has shown a sign of continuous growth amid recent internal chaos with the rise of investment made by the private sector.

Unemployment rate was reported at an appropriate level or 1.1 percent, while consumers’ and private sector’s confidence in Q1 was improving which resulted in the strengthening of financial institutions and high liquidity.

The Economic Cabinet was also reported by the board of Investment (BoI) that within six months there were 192 billion THB of investment from 632 projects which applied for BoI promotion, a rise by 7.4% in value and 46.3% in project number compared to last year.

The Economic Cabinet stated its concern on internal politics which might be the factor of economic depression including the hike of inflation in the next few years, pointing out that the monetary policy needed to be closely monitored thereafter.