Market had expected an increase in Thailand’s economic growth and Thai economy has accelerated in the first quarter but slightly below the expectations. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, the government's economic planning agency, said Monday that country has recorded an expansion of 2% in gross domestic product in Q1 from Q4 of 2010. The increase is subject to strong domestic demand and record exports.

On the other hand, Japan’s growth gets affected in April-June period due to natural disaster that occurred on March 11.

The country has posted 3% expansion in the GDP as compared to same period last year. However, it has been forecasted by the agency that GDP will lie in a range of 3.5% to 4.5%.

According to median forecast of 11 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires, it is anticipated that GDP will expand 2.3% in first quarter from the fourth quarter and 2.8% from last year.

Exports, higher agricultural product prices, stronger tourism, increased domestic spending and a jump in private investment are few factors affecting the growth in first quarter reported by Arkhom. They also said that it is an important factor for increasing consumer confidence and encouraging private investment.

Export remain the strongest factor to accelerate the economic growth in Thailand after jumping 28.1% last year but in 2011, it is expected that it will slow down a little bit. The demand is reduced in April due to natural disaster in Japan and large number of holidays in the month.