Consumption, investment expected to further decline if no govt in sight by Q3

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BANGKOK, 30 April 2014 – The Siam Commercial Bank says Thai economy will see a negative growth if a new government is not formed by the third quarter. 

Ms Sutapa Amornvivat, chief economist and first executive vice president at the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), said the bank has revised the country’s GDP growth forecast down to 1.6 percent from the previous figure of 2.4 percent.

She noted that if a new government could not be convened by the third quarter, budget disbursement would be delayed, causing a drop of investment in the government sector by 6.6 percent, household consumption by 0.5 percent, and private investment by 2.8 percent.

As for exports, she said the bank had adjusted this year’s export growth target down to 4 percent from 5 percent after a sharp decline in exports of agricultural products.