Thailand will likely miss the government's 6.0 percent growth target this year, the finance minister said Wednesday, saying the nation's political stalemate had sapped investor confidence.
"When investor confidence is affected, it will affect economic expansion too," Surapong Suebwonglee told reporters.
"The political situation now is something that has never happened before and that is unlikely to resolve in the near future," he added.
Surapong spoke one day after the Constitutional Court forced prime minister Samak Sundaravej out of office, ruling that he had illegally accepted payments for hosting TV cooking shows.
The verdict heightened Thailand's political turmoil. Protesters have barricaded the main government complex for more than two weeks and a state of emergency has been imposed across Bangkok.