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Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in April grew 0.56 per cent from a year earlier, falling short of market expectations, the Industry Ministry said on Monday.
The monthly growth was less than economists’ forecast in a Reuters poll of 1.6-per-cent rise year-on-year.
Earlier, the MPI in March dipped for the first time in seven month due to rising inflation in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ministry then revised the index upwardly to 0.44-per-cent growth.
“The weakening of baht has supported the pricing of the expert sector,” Thongchai Chawalitpichaet, director-general at the Office of Industrial Economics, told a briefing.
He also said that the easing of Covid-19 restrictions has boosted the world economic activity.
For the first four months of 2022, the average manufacturing output expanded 1.37 per cent from a year earlier.
The Thai government set a target for the industrial output to expand between 4 to 5 per cent thai year. In 2021, the MPI grew 5.93 per cent from the previous year thanks to the improved pandemic situation.
Thai exports in April grew 9.9 per cent, also missing market forecasts due to pressures from the war in Ukraine and lockdowns in China.
Despite a continual rise in MPI, Thongchai pointed out that inflation is taking a toll on the outlook of the country’s industrial output. “Industrial operators were affected by rising production costs,” he warned.