Thailand’s consumer confidence in November, which has increased in the past two months, is at a nine-month high of 52.4 points in the measurement index, the Center for Economic and Business Forecasting at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) said on Thursday.
The consumer confidence index surged from 50.9 points in October while the economic sentiment stood at 45.6, a slight increase from the previous months.
The UTTC’s president Thanavath Phonvichai said that the improved indices in consumer confidence resulted from stimulus measures from the government, particularly the co-payment scheme as well as the rising agricultural product prices.
Other positive factors include better-than-expected GDP in the third quarter at a lesser contraction of 6.4 per cent, up 6.5 per cent from the earlier quarter, and the policy to keep interest rates per year at 0.5 per cent from the central bank.
However, Thanavath warned that purchasing power would depend on the political situation in the country as many rallies have been held in the last month.
“As a result, the political sentiment index has fallen to hit a record low 14 years,” Thanavath added.
Other negative factors to distress the consumer confidence are concerns over sluggish recovery in the economy and unemployment rates in the future due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Thanavath also predicted that people would hinder their spending until the first quarter of 2021, following the economic stimulus coming this last month of the year.
“The ability to revive the economy and the political situation are two of the main factors that will greatly influence future consumer confidence,” said Thanavath.
