Flood to slash Thai GDP growth

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BANGKOK, Nov 9 (Xinhua): Longstanding and widespread inundation would trim prediction of gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year to below 2.60 per cent, Suchada Kirakul, deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand said Tuesday. Previously in July, the central bank previously predicted economic expansion in 2011 at 4.10 per cent, the number which was once reduced form the former 4.40 per cent. The flood damage to GDP is now estimated at about 150 billion baht (US$4.90 billion), a substantial increase from the previous estimation at 110 billion baht ($3.60 billion), English website Bangkok Post quoted Suchada as saying. Deputy governor of the central bank said that tourism-related industry revenue would drop by about 20 billion baht ($651 million) because the number of tourists was now expected to fall by between 700,000 to 800,000 on previous projections. This flood crisis could also affect the global economy at a certain level because Thailand was a major production hubs for export, she said. The deputy chief expressed confidence that foreign investors would not move production bases to other countries because Thailand remained an attractive investment destination boosted by tax incentive measures. Economists from private sector have recently released much more negative estimation for flood-caused economic loss which was expected between $23-28 billion. Floods which have battered most parts of the country still prevail in 24 provinces in central and northeastern regions, affecting more than 3.0 million people.