BANGKOK: Thailand's finance ministry on Thursday cut its 2021 economic growth forecast to 1.0% from the 1.3% expansion it projected earlier, an official said, as the country deals with its most prolonged coronavirus outbreak.

The ministry trimmed its 2021 forecast for exports, a key growth driver, to a 16.3% increase from the 16.6% rise it projected in July, Pornchai Theeravet, head of the ministry's fiscal policy office, told a briefing.