Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - Despite the effects of the trade war, the Thaidomestic consumption figures, government investments, and the tourism sectorstill all perform well; resulting in continuous growth of the Thai economy inApril.

The Bank of Thailand’s (BOT) Macroeconomic and Monetary Policy Department’sSenior Director, Pornpen Somsrichai said on June 4 that consumption in theprivate sector continues to grow in all product categories due to goodpurchasing power factors and higher wages among employees outside ofagriculture.

The growing purchasing power has resulted in the expansion of vehiclemanufacturing for domestic sales. Spending on government projects has alsogrown after the revision of investment projects in keeping with the nationalstrategy, leading to the hastening of investment budget expenditure by theDepartment of Highways, the Department of Rural Roads, and the Royal IrrigationDepartment.

Investment by the private sector has also expanded because of the importationof items for manufacturing. The number of tourists has grown at 3.3 percentyear-on-year with increased visitor numbers from ASEAN, India, Japan, andEurope, while the number of Chinese tourists is still in decline.

The export sector has shrunk by 2.9 percent year-on-year due to the ongoingtrade war between the US and China, resulting in a decrease of electronics,machinery, metal goods, and processed farm item exports. The export of rubberproducts and sugar is also in decline.

The BOT will be holding discussions with the Monetary Policy Committee toreassess trade war effects, and by the adjustment of Thailand’s economicperformance projections this year in June, from the current projection of 3.8percent growth. – NNT/VNA