Bangkok (VNA) – A rebound in tourism anddomestic demand are factors that make Thailand maintain its economic growthoutlook for 2023 at 3.8%, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Speaking at a briefing on January 27, head of theministry’s fiscal police office Pornchai Thiraveja said that Southeast Asia’ssecond-largest economy expanded by 3.0% in 2022, lower than a previous forecast of 3.4% as its exports,public investment, and private consumption slowed down.
In 2021, Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by1.5%, among the lowest rate in the region.
The figure for last year is expected to be released nextmonth.
Tourism is an important industry that greatly contributed tothe country’s GDP growth with 11.15 million foreign arrivals visiting Thailand lastyear.
Pornchai said that the country expects to welcome 27.5million foreign visitors this year, up from 21.5 million projected earlier,thanks to China’s reopening.
In 2019, Thailand attracted nearly 40 million foreignvisitors who spent 1.91 trillion baht (58.14 billion USD ) in the country./.