Consequences of flu pandemic worry BOT

BANGKOK, 7 July 2009 (NNT) – The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has recently raised concern over the consequences from the prevailing outbreak of A(H1N1) flu as it feared the outbreak would cause a falter of Thai tourism once again.

Senior Director of Domestic Economy to the Bank of Thailand, Mrs Amara Sripayak, said the pandemic has become a negative factor to the Thai economy. She said the bank would need to evaluate its impact on the economy.

Mrs Amara said the BOT would raise the issue in the meeting of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), scheduled for 15 July 2009. She said not only Thai tourism would be affected by the spread of the virus, but the global economy would be hit as well.

Mrs Amara elaborated the pandemic would scare off tourists to travel to infected areas. She assured no obvious impacts would be seen in overall in the areas of economic growth rate and spending and investments from the private sector.