EURCHF Euro vs Swiss Franc

Driven by domestic spending and shipments, Thailand's economic growth accelerated in the first quarter after slowing in the previous three months.

Gross domestic product grew 3.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, faster than the 3 percent expansion seen in the final three months of 2016, the National Economic and Social Development Board said Monday.

Economists had forecast the growth rate to remain unchanged at 3 percent.

On a sequential basis, GDP growth improved to 1.3 percent from 0.5 percent a quarter ago. The quarterly growth was expected to rise moderately to 1 percent.

On the expenditure side, private consumption expenditure grew 3.2 percent annually, faster than the 2.5 percent increase in the previous period. Meanwhile, growth in government expenditure eased to 0.2 percent from 1.8 percent.

Gross fixed capital formation rose 1.7 percent versus 1.8 percent in the prior quarter.

For the external sector, growth in exports of both goods and services accelerated to 2.7 percent, along with imports of goods and services with a rise of 6.0 percent due mainly to a 7.3 percent rise of imports of goods.

The government forecast the economy to grow 3.3-3.8 percent this year compared to 3-4 percent projected in February. The NESDB forecast 3.6 percent increase in exports.

Krystal Tan, an economist at Capital Economics, expects growth to pick up a little further in the coming quarters, helped by robust external demand, supportive fiscal and monetary policies, and the current state of relative political calm.

However, the economist expects growth to slow in 2018 to 3.0 percent as domestic political concerns return to the fore.

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