Thai Q2 GDP grows below forecast at 1.8%, outlook trimmed

BANGKOK : Thailand’s economy expanded slower than expected in the second quarter, data showed on Monday, with strength in tourism helping to counter weaker exports amid a slowdown in global demand.

The government cut its 2023 gross domestic product growth forecast to 2.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent from a range of 2.7 per cent to 3.7 per cent, citing slower exports.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy grew 1.8 per cent in the April-June period from a year earlier, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said, below the 3.1 per cent expansion expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Gross domestic product (GDP) had risen 2.7 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter.

On a quarterly basis, GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 per cent in the June quarter, versus a forecast rise of 1.2 per cent.

First-quarter GDP was revised to 1.7 per cent from an earlier 1.9 per…