The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) reported that GDP rose 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter.

The first quarter outcome is down from a revised 3.6% in the fourth quarter of last year.

It was the slowest growing pace for Thailand’s economy in 17 quarters.

A weak first quarter combined with intensified downside growth risk leads us to cut our 2019 growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.8%.

We expect the Bank of Thailand to join its Asian counterparts in easing with a 25 basis point policy rate cut at the next meeting in June    

THINK Economic and Financial Analysis unit of ING

Thailand’s GDP growth slowed sharply to 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019 from 3.6% in the previous quarter.

The MPC recently determined that the economy would expand at a slower pace than the committee’s forecast of 3.8%, largely due to weaker-than-expected merchandise exports and private investment.

Weak domestic demand dents growth

The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has indicated that the Thai economic growth in the first quarter was at a sluggish rate of 2.8 percent, prompting the office of revise down its 2019 Thai economic forecast to 3.3-3.8 percent from 3.5-4.5 percent.

A spike in the political risks surrounding the general election weighed on the domestic economy with nearly half of the slowdown in headline growth coming from private consumption and the rest from investments.