The World Bank sees Thailand's GDP picking up to 3.1 percent in 2016, due to the healthy growth of tourism and government stimulus policies, local media Thursday reported.

The World Bank is the latest major global institution to revise upward its forecast for Thailand's economic growth for this year, up from its forecast of 2.5 percent in June.

Kiatipong Ariyapratya, senior economist at World Bank's regional office in Thailand, predicted that Thailand's growth rate for next year was likely to remain the same at 3.1 percent.

He believed that government investment would help boost Thailand's long-term economic growth of 4 to 5 percent, attributing the growth rate to government expenditure, increased consumption of the private sector and the expansion of tourism, especially increased tourist arrivals from China for the first half of the year although the arrivals are likely to drop slightly for the latter half of the year.

He, however, noted that the export sector was expected to contract further from the earlier forecast of 0.9 percent.

The World Bank's senior economist also emphasized that political instability might pose another potential risk if people are not satisfied with the government's reforms or if the reforms are indefinitely postponed.

Source : XINHUA