Thailand lowers 2024 GDP growth projection to 2.8% – Business & Finance

BANGKOK: Thailand’s economy is expected to grow 2.8% this year, a sharp downgrade from an earlier forecast of 3.2%, the finance ministry said on Tuesday, bolstering the government’s push for stimulus to revive an economy it says is in “crisis”.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expansion last year was also down significantly, seen by the ministry at just 1.8%, compared to 2.7% seen earlier.

The economy expanded 2.6% in 2022 and 1.5% in the July-September quarter of 2023 from a year earlier.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who is also finance minister, is eager to revive Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy with an injection of 500 billion baht ($14.05 billion) this year by transferring 10,000 baht ($281) to 50 million Thais to spend within six months.

The government is also seeking to boost tourism, a key economic driver, in a move to offset weakness in exports, another…