Positive trends in the Thailand investment market
BMIs core forecast is for regional private consumption to pick up over the next two to three years, despite a tapering of real GDP growth. The aggregation of data for eight key regional economies (Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia) shows a deceleration of economic growth to 3.9% in 2005 from 5.6% in 2004, before a partial rebound to 4.6% year on year in 2006.
Over the same period, regional consumer expenditure growth is predicted to rise to 4.5% year on year (2006), from the 2004 rate of 3.4% year on year. This should prove supportive to foreign visitor arrivals in Thailand over the medium-to-long term.
Thailand’s strong economic outlook
In 2007, the economic momentum is expected to gain strength on the back of increasing investment, continued recovery in tourism, and further expansion in private consumption underpinned by rising real income both in private and public sectors as the inflationary pressures are expected to cool down in the latter half.
The 2006 economic growth was projected at 4.7 – 5.7% with 3.5 – 4.5% inflation rate, and current account deficit of approximately 2.2 – 2.7% of GDP.
