![\"Tourists](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c1_3262815_800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPUBLISHED : 29 May 2026 at 16:07<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTourists visit Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn, on April 27. Foreign arrivals fell in April. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Thailand posted a record-high current account deficit of $7.6 \u200bbillion in April, with economic growth \u200cslowing from the previous month from the impacts of the Middle East war and expected to get weaker, the Bank of Thailand said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The record-high deficit was not a worry yet and \u200bshould be temporary, Assistant \u2060Governor Chayawadee Chai-anant said, adding the Iran war was expected to end in the middle of the year.<\/p>\n
The baht will remain highly \u200cvolatile, reflecting uncertainty, Ms Chayawadee told a briefing.<\/p>\n
In April, tourist arrivals and spending weakened and private consumption fell as a result of lower spending on consumer goods and fuel, \u2060with higher energy prices raising the cost of living, the central bank said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Headline inflation turned positive, driven by higher domestic petrol and diesel prices. Core inflation rose as energy costs were passed through into food and public transport \u200bprices, it said.<\/p>\n
Merchandise exports excluding gold increased, supported by strong growth in technology products and auto exports.<\/p>\n
Manufacturing production remained \u200bbroadly \u200cstable and conflict-related supply disruptions remained limited, it said.<\/p>\n
Key issues to monitor include Middle East conflict developments, potential U.S. trade \u200bpolicy \u2060changes, El Nino conditions and government economic stimulus measures, the central bank said.<\/p>\n
Thailand’s first-quarter GDP growth beat forecasts, \u2060but the state planning National Economic and Social Development Council last week maintained its 2026 outlook at 1.5% to 2.5%.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, BoT Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said he expected growth of 2.1% this \u2060year, up from 1.5% projected at the last policy meeting \u200bin April, when the key interest rate was held steady at 1.00%.<\/p>\n
This month, the cabinet approved new borrowing of 200 billion baht ($6.15 billion) to finance a consumer subsidy scheme, part \u200cof a wider \u2060400 billion baht loan decree to \u200bmitigate the impact of the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 29 May 2026 at 16:07 Tourists visit Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn, on April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17516,72,187798,204893,113,61,204892,60,72596,204890,175586,204891],"class_list":["post-475011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bank-of-thailand","tag-business","tag-current-account-deficit","tag-economic-stimulus-measures","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-inflation-trends","tag-ireland","tag-merchandise-exports","tag-thai-baht-volatility","tag-thailand-economy","tag-thailand-gdp-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}