October Consumer Confidence Index continues rising

BANGKOK, Nov 11 (TNA) -- Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for October rose to 76.7, an increase for the third consecutive month, on local political stability and consumers’ optimistic views that future economy in the country would improve, said Thanawat Pholvichai, director of University of Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC)’s Economic and Business Forecasting Center. Consumers expect that Thailand’s economy would improve in future due to recovery of export and tourism business during the second half this year, said Mr Thanawat. Also, most consumers are now more relax on political situation in Thailand and they have started spending more, but cautiously, he said. However, Mr Thanawat admitted it was still difficult to forecast Thailand’s economic situation during late this year, especially on the government’s high expectations that about 20 billion baht would enter the system through its stimulation on people’s spending along with annual personal tax deduction. Last December, the government introduced the project which saw about 15 billion baht entered the system, he said, adding that it introduced the same project in November this year and it was hard to forecast. The UTCC plans to evaluate Thailand’s general economy again late this month during a meeting of the country’s chambers of commerce in the southern province of Surat Thani. It is expected that this year’s gross domestic product (GDP) would rise to 3.9 per cent and 4.2 per cent for 2018 on high expectations that global economy would start recovering, boosting Thailand’s growth along with higher investment from both private and public sector. (TNA)