InfoQuest (March 19, 2020) -- Mr. Suphan Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), announced an industrial confidence indicator of 90.2 for February 2020, lower than 92.2 in January 2020, a 21-month low since May 2018.
This drop comes largely as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19. This epidemic has had an adverse impact on Thai business production and sales, and transportation of goods and raw materials imported from China. All have raised concerns about a decline in domestic and foreign demand and purchasing power.
At the same time, droughts have dealt a blow to the output of agricultural raw materials. Plus delayed budget allocation of government construction projects has dented the confidence of the construction industry.
For the coming three months, the industrial confidence indicator in Thailand is expected to fall to 98.1 from 99.4 in January 2020, a 45-month low since May 2016. Growing concern in the business world about the implications of the COVID-19 epidemic on the global economy, in particular the Thai economy, is the main reason. Since the outbreak, due to a decline in the number of foreign tourists, people become more cautious about spending, resulting in weakening industrial product consumption.
Against the backdrop, FTI calls for more moves by the government to boost public confidence in fighting COVID-19 epidemic to spur domestic consumer spending. In the meanwhile, it expects the government will issue short-term measures to increase liquidity for enterprises and long-term measures on, for example, tax, to stimulate the economy.
Source: InfoQuest, by Nisarat Wichiensri/ Kasamarporn / Rachada, translated by Xinhua Silk Road
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