The ratio of household debt to gross domestic product in Thailand rose slightly to 91.3% at the end of 2023 from 91% in September, the Bank of Thailand said on Friday, as the economy slowed.
The amount of debt was 16.4 trillion baht, versus 16.2 trillion baht at the end of the previous quarter, the central bank said in its monthly economic update.
Overall, the economy expanded slowly in February with growth in the service sector and an increase in tourist arrivals offseting a fall in exports from the previous month, it said.
The report caused Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to reiterate his push for the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate, currently at a decade high of 2.50%.
The economy requires a boost and is in need of lower borrowing costs, Mr Srettha told a business event on Friday.
Despite steady government pressure to ease policy, the central bank last month left the rate unchanged, albeit in a split vote by its Monetary Policy Committee. The next rate review will take place on April 10.
BoT Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput maintains that the country’s economic problems are structural in nature and that an intrest-rate cut alone will not make a big impact.
The report released on Friday also showed that the country recorded a current account surplus of $2 billion in February, after a deficit of $200 million in the previous month.
It said Thailand welcomed 8.73 million foreign tourist arrivals to March 24, up 44% year-on-year, with visitors from China reaching 1.63 million.
The government is aiming for a record of 40 million foreign visitors this year, compared with 28 million in 2023.
The economy in March will be helped by tourism, but the export recovery and industrial manufacturing will have to be closely monitored, BoT assistant governor Chayawadee Chai-Anant told a briefing.
The economy unexpectedly shrank 0.6% in the final quarter of 2023 from the third quarter, with full-year growth just 1.9%, lower than the 2.5% recorded in 2022.
Last month, the central bank lowered its 2024 growth outlook to between 2.5% and 3%, from 3.2% earlier.
Mr Sethaput said earlier this week that first-quarter gross domestic product was “not likely to look pretty” but drag factors would ease later in the year.