World Bank: GDP plus figure in Q4

Despite the impact of swine flu, Thailand's gross domestic product should return to positive growth in the fourth quarter of the year, a senior economist at the World Bank’s Bangkok office, Kirida Phaophichit, said on Friday.

“We expect Q4 GDP to be a plus figure as the recovery of world economy will help increase demand for Thai products”, Ms Kirida said.

The swine flu pandemic would have some impact, but stronger momentum from global economic improvement would shore up the country’s economy in the last quarter.

She also forecast the economy would contract by only about 2.7 per cent this year as the recovery in economies of major trade partners such as India and China would help the export sector.

The value of baht was not much higher than the country’s competitors and any negative impact would not be as critical as some had feared.

On plus side, a strong baht would reduce the cost of raw materials imported for the production of goods for export.