Thai economy to slide further in 1q

Thailand's Prime Minister told his countrymen that they can expect the nation's economy to contract further in the first quarter of this year and return to positive growth only toward the end of the year.

Abhisit Vejjajiva said that the economy's performance in the first quarter would be equal or worse than the fourth quarter of last year, when it contracted 4.3 percent. The last time Thailand's economy shrank was in the first quarter of 1999. Thailand's economy, Southeast Asia's second largest after Indonesia, grew 2.6 percent overall in 2008.

The National Economic and Social Development Board, the main state planning agency, said last week that the economy may contract as much as 1 percent in 2009.

AP