BANGKOK: Thailand's finance ministry on Thursday slashed its 2021 economic growth forecast to 1.3%, from the 2.3% expansion it projected earlier, an official said, as the country struggles with its biggest COVID-19 outbreak to date.

However, the ministry raised its 2021 forecast for exports, a key growth driver, to a 16.6% rise from the 11% increase it predicted in April, Kulaya Tantitemit, head of the ministry's fiscal policy office, told a briefing.

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