Thai central bank pins hope on credit market

More assistance: A near-empty Patong Beach in Patong, Phuket. Curbs to contain Covid-19 have crippled activity in Thailand’s dominant tourism sector, which in a normal year accounts for 11% to 12% of GDP. — Bloomberg

BANGKOK: Thailand’s central bank will focus on creating conditions for expanding debt relief and credit for firms to boost the flagging economy, according to the bank’s chief, adding that already low interest rates had become a blunt tool for many policymakers.

Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput also told Reuters that, while an economy under pressure from the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak yet might shrink in the third quarter from the second, he did not expect it to contract in 2021 as a whole.