Thailand's economic growth slips to 5-year low, rate cuts likely

This photograph taken on February 12, 2020 shows the empty food court of the Floating Market in Pattaya. - Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle; the Mekong is absorbing billions of dollars of losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 novel coronavirus. - AFP

BANGKOK (Reuters): Thailand's economy grew at its weakest pace in five years in 2019 as exports and public investments slowed, adding pressure on the central bank to cut rates to shield South-east Asia's second-largest economy from the coronavirus epidemic.

The state planning agency on Monday (Feb 17) also cut its forecasts for 2020 economic growth to 1.5-2.5 per cent from 2.7 per cent-3.7 per cent. It also lowered its outlook for exports, the main growth driver, to a 1.4 per cent rise from a 2.3 per cent increase projected in November.