Thai economy contracts the sharpest, struggling months lurk

Thailand’s economy hit its sharpest downturn in eight years in the first quarter. Though it contracted by less than speculated, struggling months impend as the coronavirus crisis ravages tourism and domestic activity.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy declined by 1.8% in the first quarter from a year earlier. This came to be the sharpest economic reversal since 2011. Thailand’s economy is expected to slide further and may contract worse than the recorded decline during the Asian financial crisis of 1998.

The state planning agency slashed this year’s export figures and tourist count, the primary indicators of Thai economic growth. The agency also reduced this year’s gross domestic product outlook to 5.0%-6.0% contraction rate, far from the initial forecast of 1.5%-2.5% growth rendered last February.