Kitiphong Thaichareon, Orathai Thairing

BANGKOK (Reuters). THAILAND’S finance ministry reduced Wednesday its forecast for 2022 economic growth to 3.5%, from a prior forecast of 4.0%. This was due to the effects of Russia/Ukraine war inflation on global growth, a ministry official stated.

The second-largest Southeast Asian economy will continue to be supported by increased domestic spending, a rebound in tourism and exports, Pornchai Theeravet said at a press conference.

He said that the economy was still expanding, with an acceleration of last year’s 1.6% rate growth but that there were risk factors.

He added that the ministry was ready to adopt appropriate fiscal measures and monetary actions to support a sustained and wide-based economic recovery.

According to him, the ministry is now expecting that exports will increase 6.0%, which was higher than 3.6% originally projected.

The country that is dependent on tourism will welcome 6.1million foreign tourists this year. This figure falls short of 7 million as projected previously due to China’s travel restrictions and Russian tourist numbers affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

While the 2019 tourist figures are not as high as the 40,000,000 visitors in 2019, they would represent an improvement over the 2021 arrivals of 428,000 tourists from abroad.

In an effort to revitalize an industry which typically accounts for around 12% of the country’s gross domestic product, Thailand will eliminate the mandatory COVID-19 pre-departure COVID-19 testing for tourists starting May 1.