Thai finance ministry maintains 2023 GDP growth outlook, sees more tourists

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s finance ministry on Friday maintained its economic growth outlook for 2023 at 3.8%, helped by a rebound in tourism and domestic demand, but an official said exports would slow down this year.

For 2022, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is expected to have expanded 3.0%, down from a previous forecast of 3.4%, as exports, public investment and private consumption slowed, Pornchai Thiraveja, head of the ministry’s fiscal policy office, told a briefing.

Official gross domestic product (GDP) figures for 2022 are due to be released next month. In 2021, GDP grew 1.5%, among the lowest rates in the region.

Thailand’s economic recovery has lagged that of other Southeast Asian nations, with the crucial tourism sector just starting to pick up last year with 11.15 million foreign arrivals.

Thailand is expected to receive 27.5 million foreign arrivals this year, up from 21.5 million projected earlier, helped by China’s reopening, Pornchai said.

In pre-pandemic 2019, there were nearly 40 million foreign tourists who spent 1.91 trillion baht ($58.07 billion)

($1 = 32.89 baht)

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Kitiphong Thaichareon and Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)