Thai govt stimulus to lift 2015 GDP growth to 3 per cent: finance ministry

[BANGKOK] Thailand's economy is still expected to grow 3 per cent this year, boosted by recent stimulus measures aimed at helping small firms and rural areas, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday.

The stimulus is expected to lift economic growth by 0.4 percentage point this year. For the full year, we are still forecasting 3 per cent," Krisada Chinavicharana, head of the ministry's fiscal policy office, told reporters.

This month the junta announced measures worth a combined 342 billion baht (S$13.3 billion) in a bid to revive Southeast Asia's second-largest economy that has yet to regain traction after more than a year of military rule due to weak exports and domestic demand. Growth last year was 0.9 per cent.

REUTERS