The Center for Economic and Business Forecasting (CEBF) of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) has predicted that the Thai GDP this year will shrink between 9.4 to 11.4 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coronavirus outbreak has already cost the Thai economy Bt2.1 trillion, which could rise to Bt3 trillion if the economy does not recover in the second half of the year, said Thanawat Polvichai, rector at UTCC.
The economy in the second quarter is expected to contract by 15 per cent, further than the previous historic low of 12 per cent in the second quarter of 1998 during the Asian financial crisis, he noted.
The university has almost doubled its projection of economic contraction in 2020 from 4.9 per cent to 9.4 per cent, said Thanawat, who is also chief adviser to the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting at the UTCC.
