Thailand revised its 2010 growth forecast up to between 4 percent and 5 percent as a recovery in the global economy helps spur expansion in Southeast Asia’s second largest economy, but warned economic growth could be derailed by political upheaval.
The upward revision was also due partly to a strong pick-up in private consumption, Fiscal Policy Office director-general Satit Rungkasiri said in a briefing on 29 March. The ministry had in December forecast gross domestic product to expand in a range of 3 percent-4 percent.
Thailand is gradually recovering from the global downturn after sliding into its first recession in 11 years, with its crucial export market taking a battering as demand for its goods in major markets such as the US, Europe and Japan dwindled. After enduring tough conditions for much of 2009, GDP expanded 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the third – the fastest on-quarter pace in 10 years.
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(Source: The Wall Street Journal Online)