InfoQuest (August 1, 2019) -- According to the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the central bank of the country, Thailand's Business Confidence Index (BCI) came in at 49.1 in July 2019, approaching last month's figure, an indicator of stability. Yet this country's Manufacturing Confidence Index (MCI) saw a decline, reflected by a drop in number of orders, production and employment. It's especially worse in food and beverage, petroleum products, chemicals, rubber and plastics industries. Due to the global economic slowdown and the uncertainties caused by the U.S.-China trade row, there is a slump in the number of orders and output from foreign countries in these industries.
The good news is that this country's Non-manufacturing Confidence Index climbed, especially in hotel and restaurant industries, with figures higher than last month, mainly due to increasing traffic volume and business revenue.
BOT also released its forecasts for the three months to come. According to it, Thailand's BCI is expected to stand at 53.7 for the period, slightly lower than last month. BIC figures higher than 50 in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors say that the majority of Thai enterprises have confidence in continuing to achieve growth for the next period.
But compared with the last month, the Manufacturing BCI in the next three months will be lower, especially in the electronic manufacturing. This decline comes mainly as a result of the decreasing foreign purchase orders, but the slower-than-expected recovery of the business cycle in the sector is also a contributing factor. While the non-Manufacturing BCI in the same period will see a slight rise, especially in retail, hotel and catering services, as most enterprises in these industries are confident of a further improvement in both traffic volume and business revenue.
Source: InfoQuest, by Kasamarporn Kittisamphan/Rachada, translated by Xinhua Silk Road
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