BANGKOK, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand's biggest commercial banks, on Wednesday cut its 2021 growth forecast for the Thai economy to 0.7 percent due to the worse-than-expected COVID-19 impact on consumption and tourism.

The projection by the SCB's Economic Intelligence Center was down from the previous estimate of 0.9-percent growth it made in July.

Thailand's private spending has been weighed by the protracted third wave of the outbreak, while the number of foreign tourists has been less than expected due to concern about the pandemic situation in the country, the research center said.

Exports, a major engine of the country's economic growth, would continue to expand but the pace of increase might moderate during the rest of the year because of a higher comparative base from last year, as well as the slower world economic growth and supply chain disruptions caused by the Delta variant, it said.

It expected the country's rising vaccination rate to help boost economic activity and confidence of consumers and businesses in the last quarter of the year.

The country aims to inoculate 70 percent of its nearly 70 million population by the end of the year. As of Tuesday, 18.4 percent of its people have been fully vaccinated.

The SCB expected Thailand's economy to expand 3.4 percent in 2022, supported by the recovery of both domestic and external demand. Enditem

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