Thai central bank to revise 2013 GDP

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) will reassess this year's economic figures, including the predicted gross domestic product (GDP), in July, a BoT official said. Mathee Supapongse, senior director of the BoT's Macroeconomic and Monetary Policy Department (MPC), said on Friday that Thailand saw a slowdown in foreign capital inflows in May but has yet to pinpoint if the baht's value is on a declining trend. As a result, the BoT will reassess this year's economic figures in July before deciding if more actions will have to be taken. The current projection of GDP growth by the central bank is 5.1 percent for this year and 5 percent for next year. Mathee added that Thailand's economy was stagnant in April but it should successively expand in the second quarter thanks to the cut on policy interest rate by 0.25 percent, satisfactory consumer confidence index and the government's economic stimulus. On Wednesday, the MPC decided to reduce the policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.5 percent. Foreign capital inflows in April were 4.17 billion U.S. dollars and there were signs of a slowdown in May, he said, adding that the private sector's investment index shrank by 1.1 percent in April year on year on less active investment in machinery and equipment and slow recovery of global economy. The private sector's consumer index expanded by 1.7 percent while farmers' income dropped by 7.7 percent year on year. The BoT official added that Thailand's exports reached 17.25 billion dollars, an increase of 3.7 percent, while exporters were confident that the situation would improve in the second quarter. Tourism has continued growing, with the number of visitors rising by 2.1 million during the first quarter of 2013, or a 21.6 percent increase, mostly from China and Russia. The inflation rate was at 2.42 percent.