![\"World](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775727628_655_lg-webp.webp\")
\n <\/p>\nAlthough a ceasefire agreement reached on the morning of April 8 (Thailand time) has raised hopes, it has not eliminated broader uncertainty in global markets.<\/p>\n
Against this backdrop, regional economic growth is projected to slow to 4.2% in 2026, down from 5.0% in 2025. The slowdown reflects compounded pressures from the energy crisis linked to Middle East tensions, alongside heightened trade protectionism, global policy uncertainty and domestic structural challenges.<\/p>\n
To mitigate the impact, the World Bank recommends that governments strike a careful balance between short-term relief and long-term reform,\u00a0supporting vulnerable groups and small businesses while pushing ahead with structural changes to drive future growth.<\/p>\n
Lessons from Thailand\u2019s response during the Covid-19 pandemic highlight the importance of strong digital infrastructure, Mattoo said. Countries with robust digital registries, such as Thailand, were able to deliver targeted assistance more efficiently.<\/p>\n
In contrast, untargeted support measures tend to strain public finances, increase debt burdens and push up interest rates,\u00a0ultimately undermining long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n
On monetary policy, the region is now facing what the World Bank describes as a \u201cdouble menace\u201d, rising inflation combined with slowing growth.<\/p>\n
If inflationary pressures are driven mainly by temporary supply-side shocks, central banks may be able to hold policy steady. However, if inflation expectations become entrenched and start feeding into wages and prices, policymakers could face a difficult trade-off between tightening policy to curb inflation or maintaining accommodative conditions to support growth.<\/p>\n
The report also found that countries with clear fiscal rules, credible inflation-targeting frameworks and strong institutional structures are better positioned to absorb economic shocks and limit negative impacts.<\/p>\n
Mattoo added that crises can serve as a catalyst for long-overdue structural reforms, particularly in sectors that remain heavily protected, such as services.<\/p>\n
He pointed to Vietnam as an example of a country that has begun liberalising its service sector, helping to boost productivity across both services and manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Sustainable recovery, he suggested, does not always require large-scale infrastructure investment. Removing policy barriers can be an equally powerful starting point for reform.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
For Thailand, the World Bank highlighted persistent structural challenges, noting that the economy has been growing at a modest pace of just 1\u20132% annually in recent years.<\/p>\n
This sluggish performance is largely attributed to a lack of meaningful structural reform, including restrictions on foreign investment in the financial sector,\u00a0seen as a key obstacle to broader industrial development.<\/p>\n
In its April 2026 EAP Economic Update, the World Bank revised down Thailand\u2019s GDP growth forecast to 1.3%, from 1.8% projected in October 2025.<\/p>\n
This places Thailand as the slowest-growing economy among the Southeast Asian countries covered in the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although a ceasefire agreement reached on the morning of April 8 (Thailand time) has raised hopes, it has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[2000,9,79,179,18,15912,187791,133675,19,185,17,118369,79387,13180],"class_list":["post-427457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-asean","tag-breaking-news","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-energy-crisis","tag-fragile-state","tag-gdp-forecast","tag-ie","tag-inflation","tag-ireland","tag-structural-reform","tag-wage","tag-world-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116374092562086472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}