Thai second-quarter GDP growth seen cooling slightly on weaker investment: Reuters poll

Reuters

Published Aug 17, 2017 04:58AM ET

Thai second-quarter GDP growth seen cooling slightly on weaker investment: Reuters poll

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's economic growth is expected to have cooled slightly in the second quarter as public and private investment slowed, offsetting some of the boost from stronger exports and tourism, a Reuters poll showed.

Growth in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has lagged its regional peers since the army seized power in 2014 to end months of political unrest.

The junta has ramped up spending to try to boost domestic activity, but large infrastructure projects have been slow getting off the ground. That has left growth largely reliant on exports at a time when U.S. trade protectionist rhetoric is on the rise and China's economy is expected to slow.

The economy likely grew 1.0 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the media forecast of 11 economists polled by Reuters.

It had expanded 1.3 percent in the first quarter, the fastest rate in four years.

Compared with a year earlier, growth was forecast to ease to 3.0 percent in the June quarter from 3.3 percent in the March quarter, according to 14 economists who gave year-on-year forecasts.

Still, full-year 2017 growth is expected to edge up to 3.4 percent, from 3.2 percent in 2016, according to the poll.