geographically widespread, but particularly devastating in some communities right here in new york city, including breezy point, the rockaways, and portions of staten island, and in so many cities and towns along the long island, new jersey and connecticut waterfronts, such as long beach, seaside heights, spring lake and hoboken. estimates of the costs of disruption to economic activity – that is, services that couldn ’ t be rendered and goods that couldn ’ t be produced because of protracted transit shutdowns, power outages and other such damage produced by the storm – are particularly difficult to pin down. thus, it will be some time before concrete figures are available. however, the early read from recently - released data confirm these disruptions have been widespread. every one of the new york city area firms that responded to our recent empire state manufacturing survey – fielded one to two weeks after the storm – indicated that the storm disrupted activity at their firm, and 40 percent of them indicated that they were completely shut down or severely crippled for at least five days. furthermore, the number of workers filing initial claims for unemployment insurance in both new york and new jersey surged to more than triple their pre - storm levels in the week after sandy hit, suggesting at least 70, 000 storm - related job losses in these two states thus far. these data suggest that the disruptions that we have seen, and continue to see, could be substantial. we can quantify the losses in terms of days of lost output. given the regional gdp of $ 1. 4 trillion, a rough calculation yields a loss of $ 3. 8 billion for each full - day equivalent of lost output in the region. bis central bankers ’ speeches a considerable part of this lost activity will be offset over time or be replaced by a temporary shift of activity from hard - hit areas to less - affected places. but, in a services - based economy, much activity cannot be shifted in time : restaurants, for instance, can ’ t serve six meals a day to make up for lost business. the fact that many people who would have dined in lower manhattan in the weeks following sandy are instead patronizing restaurants near their homes or near temporary work sites represents an offset for the regional economy as a whole. but that ’ s little consolation for the original restaurant, which may in turn need to lay off some of its people or could even possibly go out of business. and, of course, this applies even more dramatically to businesses in hard -

pongpen ruengvirayudh : the current economic situation and recent monetary policy developments opening remarks by ms pongpen ruengvirayudh, deputy governor for monetary stability of the bank of thailand, at the joint foreign chamber of commerce in thailand ( jfcct ), bangkok, 21 may 2014. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 1. it is my pleasure to be back here at the joint foreign chambers of commerce ( jfcct ). first of all, i would like to thank jfcct for inviting me and would also like to thank all the members of jfcct for your continuing contribution to the economic development here in thailand. economic outlook 2. a great deal has changed both domestically and externally since i was here last year. with respect to domestic economy, the prolonged political stalemate has weighed considerably on confidence, exacerbating the already fragile economy. externally, the announcement of the us fed to scale down its quantitative easing program since may 2013 has led to turmoil in financial markets across emerging economies. today, i therefore would like to take this opportunity to share briefly with you my thoughts on the country ’ s economic outlook, the medium - term challenges we face and monetary policy of the bank of thailand. 3. when it comes to current economic assessment, the slowdown of the thai economy over the last year, in combination with uncertainty over the ongoing political conflict, is a growing concern for many. the nesdb two days ago announced that gdp growth in 1q14 contracted by 0. 6 % ( yoy ), compared to same period last year. signs of moderation were witnessed in various economic activities, such as consumption and investment, as well as in government spending, despite signs of a rise in some exports. as the political deadlock lingers, tourism has begun to feel the impact. in the last mpc meeting of april 23rd, the committee projected that the thai economy in will grow less in 2014 than the previously assessed at 2. 7 percent. this will be mainly due to the weaker - than - expected economic momentum in the first quarter of the year and the political impasse posing downside risks to domestic demand and tourism. however, the economy is expected to resume its normal growth in 2015. 4. notwithstanding the short - term headwinds, there are also causes for optimism. global economic activity has been firming up. growth has gathered momentum in the us, the euro area and japan. recent government ’ s