Thai economy sees stunted growth despite tourists' return

BANGKOK - Thailand's economy grew 2.5 percent in the second quarter as returning foreign tourists failed to offset high inflation and concerns over regional tensions, the country's main economic agency said Monday.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy was hit hard during the pandemic, though visitor numbers are slowly improving with the relaxation of travel rules since May.

But the Ukraine war and now tension over Taiwan could put any economic recovery at risk, Thailand's National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) warned.

"We have to continue monitoring to see how long counteraction from China over Taiwan will last," NESDC Secretary General Danucha Pichayanan said.

"The relaxing of our Covid controls, the recovery of tourism are factors that support the growth."

The agency said that gross domestic product rose 2.5 percent in April-June compared to the same period a year ago -- well below the anticipated growth of three percent.

The NESDC also revised the expected full-year growth rate from 2.5-3.5 percent to 2.7-3.2 percent.

Economist Charl Kengchon, from the Kasikorn Research Centre, characterized the results as a "mixed bag", with the tourism boost failing to lift growth.

"I think that is because inflation hit a 14-year high in June, so it is a drag on spending both (in the) household sector and business," he said.

Inflation in the month of June hit 7.7 percent and was at 6.5 percent for the quarter, according to the NESDC.

The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war and Taiwan tensions were also a worry, Charl said, affecting supply chains.

"We expect Thailand exports to cool in tandem with the global economic growth next year, so we have to rely so much on tourism," he said.

Thailand welcomed roughly 40 million people annually pre-pandemic, and has set ambitious targets on arrivals for the coming year in the hope of coaxing life back into the damaged tourist sector.

Agence France-Presse

China's Q4 GDP growth beats forecast after COVID-19 shock

BEIJING - China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter of last year, ending a rough coronavirus-stricken 2020 in remarkably good shape and remained solidly poised to expand further this year.

The gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 6.5 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, faster than the 6.1 percent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and followed the 4.9 percent growth in the third quarter.

GDP grew 2.3 percent in 2020, the data showed, making China the only major economy in the world to avoid a contraction last year as many nations struggled to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aided by strict virus containment measures and policy stimulus, the economy has recovered steadily from a steep 6.8 percent slump in the first three months of 2020, when an outbreak of COVID-19 in the central city of Wuhan turned into a full-blown epidemic.

The world's second-largest economy has been fuelled by a surprisingly resilient export sector, but consumption - a key driver of growth - has lagged expectations amid fears of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Data on Thursday showed Chinese exports grew by more than expected in December, as coronavirus disruptions around the world fuelled demand for Chinese goods even as a stronger yuan made exports more expensive for overseas buyers.

Despite the steady recovery in quarterly growth, 2020 GDP growth was the weakest pace in more than four decades.

The slew of bright economic data has reduced the need for more monetary easing this year, leading the central bank to scale back some policy support, sources told Reuters, but there would be no abrupt shift in policy direction, according to top policymakers.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP rose 2.6 percent in October-December, the bureau said, compared with expectations for a 3.2 percent rise and a revised 3.0 gain in the previous quarter.

Analysts expect economic growth to rebound to 8.4 percent in 2021, before slowing to 5.5 percent in 2022.

While this year's predicted growth rate would be the strongest in a decade, led by a big jump in the first quarter, it is rendered less impressive coming off the low base set in pandemic-stricken 2020.

Some analysts also cautioned that a recent rebound in COVID-19 cases in China could impact activity and consumption in the run-up to next month's long Lunar New Year holidays.

China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season.

(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley and Kevin Yao Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

-reuters-