BANGKOK: Thailand’s economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of 2025, data showed on Monday, but the state planning agency cut its full-year growth forecasts as US tariffs threaten to hit the country’s export engine.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy grew 3.1% in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, slowing slightly from a revised 3.3% pace in the previous quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Council said.
The growth rate was above a median forecast of 2.9% growth in a Reuters poll.
On a quarterly basis, the economy grew a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in the March quarter, above the poll forecast of 0.6% growth and 0.4% growth in the prior quarter.
Growth at the start of 2025 was helped by private consumption and government expenditure, but high consumer and corporate debt burdens and the global trade war are expected to weigh on activity later in the year, the NESDC said in a statement.
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The agency cut its 2025 economic growth forecast to 1.3% to 2.3% from a range of 2.3% to 3.3% seen earlier, and also lowered its forecast for export growth to 1.8% from 3.5%.
Foreign tourist arrivals are now seen at 37 million this year, down from an earlier projection of 38 million, the NESDC said.
Tourist arrivals hit a record of nearly 40 million in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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