The Fiscal Policy Office predicted Friday that fallout from the Erawan shrine bombing will only ding Thailand’s economy, scratching just 0.05% off gross domestic product.
Deputy director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas said Friday that a preliminary assessment of the bomb's effect on tourism found that it will cost the country about 300,000 foreign visitors over the next three months.
Government tourism officials said earlier they expected 29.9 international arrivals this year. The projected 1% decline will result in a 0.05% reduction in GDP, he said.
"The bombing will certainly not cause a huge impact to the number of foreign tourists as feared by many people," Mr Ekniti said. "The tourism sector will return to normal in time for the (November-April) high season. Tourism will continue to be an important factor supporting the growth of the Thai economy."
The officer, therefore, believed that the country's economic growth in 2015 would reach 3%, supported by stimulus measures that would direct 40-50 billion baht toward low-income earners and farmers.
He said the office projected that exports for 2015 would contract by 4% year-on-year. Exports fell 4.66% in the first seven months of this year.
Mr Ekniti admitted that export trend is down, both in terms of prices of products and value of exports due to the sluggish economies of major trading partners, especially China, Europe and the Asean region.