National —
On October 10th, 2024, Thanawat Phonwichai, the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) Economic and Business Forecasting Center, revealed that the floods in 2024 have caused an estimated economic loss of 36.9 billion baht. This estimate assumes the situation will improve within 15 days.
The Thai agricultural sector is the hardest hit, suffering losses of 27.5 billion baht, accounting for 74.3% of total damages. The service sector follows with a 9.2 billion baht impact, and the industrial sector has incurred 287 million baht in damages, according to Thanawat.
The overall impact on Thailand’s GDP growth is estimated to be 0.21%. A total of 3.6 million rai of land has been affected, with 1.3 million rai being agricultural land.
Chiang Rai has seen the most significant damage, valued at 6.4 billion baht, followed by Chiang Mai with 4.2 billion baht, and Phayao at 3.3 billion baht. Thanawat warned that if tourists, both domestic and international, remained hesitant to visit, the tourism sector could suffer an additional 5 billion baht in losses.
Thanawat further stressed the importance of promoting recovery efforts, particularly in tourism and infrastructure, to prevent further economic setbacks. Concerns over flooding in central Thailand and Bangkok have also overshadowed positive news about government stimulus measures, such as the 10,000-baht rollout, negatively affecting consumer and business confidence in September.