BANGKOK- Thailand’s economy is likely to grow more than the forecast of 2.3 percent this year, helped by new relief measures to ease the impact of a third wave of coronavirus infections, a finance ministry official said on Friday.
The latest outbreak, which has accounted for more than half of Thailand’s total infections and two thirds of its deaths, has slowed domestic activity at a time the tourism-reliant country was preparing to reopen more broadly to foreign visitors.
On Tuesday, the cabinet approved an additional economic relief package worth 255 billion baht ($8.19 billion), mainly cash transfers, to help people affected by the outbreak.
The new measures are expected to inject more than 400 billion baht into the economy, lifting growth by more than 1 percentage point, KulayaTantitemit, head of the finance ministry’s fiscal policy office, told a briefing.
The ministry, however, took into account more than 100 billion of the new stimulus measures in its latest economic growth outlook of 2.3 percent, which was downgraded last week from 2.8 percent projected three months ago.
The ministry still has sufficient funds under a 1 trillion baht ($32 billion) borrowing plan to finance the new relief package, Kulaya said.
