Bangkok (dpa) – Thailand's economy contracted a more-than-expected 9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter in the wake of devastating floods in the central plains and parts of Bangkok, the government's economic think tank said Monday. For all of 2011, gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.1 percent because of the October and November floods, far below 2010′s 7.8 percent pace, the National Economic and Social Development Board said. It had forecast 3.8 percent growth for 2011 before the floods devastated the kingdom. The floods were the worst Thailand had suffered in five decades. The disaster, blamed on an unusually rainy monsoon season and poor water management, killed nearly 700 people, wrecked millions of homes and hectares of crops, and disrupted the global supply chains in the electronics and automotive sectors after inundating hundreds of factories. But a rapid recovery was expected in 2012 after the government allocated billions of dollars for rehabilitation and reconstruction projects, the think tank's secretary general, Arkom Termpitayapaisit, said. The board forecast Thailand's GDP would rise 5.5 to 6.5 percent this year, providing there are no more natural disasters and the eurozone debt crisis does not get out of hand, Arkom said. “The floods had a negative impact on every sector except the banks, which continued to collect interest payments despite the disaster,” Arkom said. He estimated the floods caused 328 billion baht (10.6 billion dollars) in damage. The World Bank, in an earlier estimate, put the cost of the floods at 1.4 trillion baht (45 billion dollars): 640 billion baht in damage and 717 billion baht in lost opportunities. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/lvQcF Tags: Economy, Flood, Shrunk, Thaiiland Section: Business, East Asia, Latest News
