Thai business group cuts 2021 GDP growth outlook to 0.5 to 2.0% after outbreak

BANGKOK: Thailand’s joint business group on Wednesday (May 19) reduced its 2021 economic growth forecast again to 0.5 per cent to 2.0 per cent, from 1.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent, as a third wave of COVID-19 infections slowed an already sluggish economic recovery, despite increased exports.

The tourism-reliant country’s latest outbreak has seen infections nearly quadruple and deaths rise six fold since it started last month, following a year of success in curbing earlier outbreaks.

“The April outbreak is likely to be more severe than earlier expected and affecting domestic activity for more than three months,” Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the joint-business group of industry, banking and commerce, told a briefing.

Accelerating the distribution of vaccines will be crucial to the economic recovery, along with the government’s new…