Thailand GDP decimated by 2011’s heavy flooding
THAILAND’s economy crashed in the final quarter of last year, with fresh data revealing a contraction of 10.7 per cent compared to the previous three months.
Devastating floods caused the economy to plummet by more than “in either the 2008-09 global crisis or the Asian financial crisis of the late-1990s”, Capital Economics said yesterday.
Capital expects a further cut in interest rates, by 0.25 per cent, as authorities aim to help the economy bounce back.
“We still forecast that Thailand’s economy will expand by 4.5 per cent this year,” economists added.
The final quarter figure showed a nine per cent dip in GDP compared to a year earlier. In the three months to September, by contrast, the economy had expanded by 3.7 per cent.
For the whole year, growth averaged just 0.1 per cent, after being hit by the floods.