"Negative real interest rates will continue to favour the Thai economic recovery as it diverges away from an ultra-tight monetary policy elsewhere in the world, most notably in the U.S. and Europe." Despite the wide interest rate gap, the baht has been one of the top performers in emerging market currencies, depreciating only about 7% so far this year. The government wants tourism next year to reach 80% of its pre-pandemic levels, even as global growth is likely to slow. "We expect Thai international tourism arrivals to be resilient to the global economic slowdown, with arrivals showing low sensitivity to global economic activity fluctuations historically," said Chua Han Teng, economist at DBS. Reporting and Polling by Anant Chandak; Editing by Ross Finley and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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