Thailand open to more stimulus if economic growth misses target

Bloomberg

Thailand’s government is ready to take more fiscal steps if economic growth falls below its base-case forecast, driven by the latest Covid-19 outbreak or delays in vaccinating the public, a Finance Ministry official said.
“The government is ready to do more if needed, and we still have fiscal space left,” Kulaya Tantitemit, acting director general of the Fiscal Policy Office, said in an interview in Bangkok. Still, she believes the ministry’s economic growth forecast for this year, which was revised down to 2.8% last week, is conservative enough.
“Things are still in line with our forecast,” she said, adding that high-frequency indicators, including Google Mobility data, are showing activity is recovering faster than expected.
With the nation’s benchmark interest rate already at an all-time low since last May, fiscal policy has taken the lead in supporting an economy whose key drivers such as tourism and exports have been hit hard by the pandemic. The Bank of Thailand held rates steady for a sixth straight meeting, saying fiscal measures and policy coordination among government agencies would be critical to support the recovery going
forward.
Thailand’s Covid caseload has more than tripled since the latest wave of cases began in mid-December. The government unveiled a series of measures last month, including $7 billion in cash handouts, to counter the outbreak.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha approved loosening restrictions to allow businesses and schools to reopen. The ministry currently has no plans for additional fiscal measures after the cash-handout scheme ends in May, anticipating that the outbreak should be under control by then and the economic situation should be better.