BANGKOK, Nov 23 – The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) continuously slipped lower in the past five months, sliding below 100 points for four consecutive months, an industrialist said today.
Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) president Phayungsak Chartsuthipol said the latest TISI in October was 93.9, down from 94.1 in September.
According to an FTI survey, the declining index was mainly due to decreasing purchase orders, poorer industrial production and overall business performance.
The disappointing TISI signals diminishing enterpreneurial confidence given their concerns regarding the higher costs of raw materials, wage and electricity, he said, adding that the global economic meltdown also has an impact on their confidence.
Despite the unfavourable atmosphere, domestic consumption has successively expanded compared to the previous month thanks to an increase in purchase and sales orders.
Industrialists predicted the TISI in the next three months at 101.8.
Mr Phayungsak said investors were most worried about the global economic impact while other concerns involved exchange rates, Thailand’s internal political situation, fuel prices and interest rates.
Local investors have proposed to the government to delay an increase of fuel adjustment charge (Ft) on electricity, control fuel prices and solve the problem of labour shortage, he said.
He added that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had called on the government to set up a fund to enable them to seek loans for human-substituted machinery and reduce taxes on imported raw materials and machines.
