Q2 GDP shrinks 12.2% y/y, weakest in 22 yearsIn this handout file photo from the Royal Thai Navy taken and released on Feb 04, 2020 navy officials in protective suits stand beside a plane that brought Thai nationals back from Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, at the military U-Tapao Airport in Rayong. (AFP)The economy contracted the most in more than two decades, deepening its recession as the nation’s key drivers of trade and tourism remain hobbled by the global coronavirus pandemic. Gross domestic product shrank 12.2% from a year ago, the National Economic and Social Development Council said Monday, its biggest decline since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The figure wasn’t quite as bad as the median estimate of a 13% contraction in a Bloomberg survey of economists. “We are concerned about the economy, especially employment, bad debts” and small and medium enterprises, said Thosaporn Sirisumphand, secretary general of the economic council.

Source: Bangkok Post August 17, 2020 03:26 UTC