Thai finance ministry trims 2015 GDP growth forecast to 3.7%

[BANGKOK] Thailand's finance ministry trimmed its economic growth forecast this year to 3.7 per cent from 3.9 per cent seen three months ago due mainly to weak exports, a ministry official said on Wednesday.

The ministry now expects exports to grow only 0.2 per cent this year, compared with 1.4 per cent seen in January, Kritsada Jinavijarana, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, told a news conference.

He said the economy may have grown 3.2 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Official first-quarter GDP data will be announced by the state planning agency on May 18.

The military took power in a coup last May to end months of political turmoil but has been unable to revive the economy which expanded just 0.7 per cent last year, the weakest pace since devastating flooding in 2011.

REUTERS