Flooding greatly impacts Thai economy

October 01, 2024 | 17:28

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Thailand has been struggling with the onslaught of excessively heavy rains and floods in several northern provinces, which has caused huge economic losses.

Flooding in Thailand (Photo: The Nation)

Bangkok - Thailand has been struggling with the onslaught of excessively heavy rains and floods in several northern provinces, which has caused huge economic losses.

Chiang Rai province was hit hardest by flash floods and landslides due to the influence of Typhoon Yagi which ravaged Vietnam and brought heavy rains to Myanmar and Thailand.

The Federation of Thai Industries estimated the economic cost to Chiang Rai and nearby provinces at between 25-27 billion baht (768-830 million USD) from the first wave of flooding.

But soon after, flash floods occurred in Lampang and Chiang Mai provinces after Storm Soulik brought heavy rains to the northern areas.

Krungsri Research projects that the losses from flooding this year could be as high as 46.5 billion baht, or about 0.27% of the country’s gross domestic product.

The magnitude of damage, however, will depend on the efficiency of the government in managing the disaster and how successful the private sector has been in protecting their factories in the industrial parks, such as by their capacity to drain water away or contain the damage.

It will also depend on how many storms develop in the Pacific Ocean and how many of them affect Thailand, the research house said.

Thailand plans to hold talks with Myanmar to prevent cross-border flooding

Thailand plans to hold discussions between its water resources management agencies and relevant agencies of Myanmar to tackle the common problem of flooding, as part of efforts to prevent a repeat of the devastating flooding that struck the two countries last week, an official has said.

By VNA

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