The economy will be highly unpredictable due to the global slowdown and the state of financial markets, Titanun Mallikamas, the Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s assistant governor of the monetary policy committee, said on Wednesday (June 3).
He added that the economy will contract more than initially estimated, and there are concerns that the baht will strengthen further and adversely affect economic recovery.
Meanwhile, the country’s current account had run into a US$700-million deficit in April. If the account did not include gold, then it would have been imbalanced by $3.1 billion. This is the highest contraction in 20 years.
In the next phase, the rising price of oil and limits on the arrival of foreign tourists will continue reducing the current account surplus.
Titanun added that the current account should be closer to the balance point at least until the tourism sector recovers.
The committee will publish an estimation of economic expansion, inflation rate and the current account in its next meeting on June 24.
