BANGKOK, May 29 — Thailand’s Ministry of Industry reported on Wednesday that the Industrial Economic Indicator (IEI) index declined to 36.36 per cent in April and reflected the general slowdown of the countries industries in terms of production, investment and confidence.
Withoon Simachokedee, permanent secretary for finance and acting industry minister, said the IEI dropped from 45.45 per cent in March to 36.36 per cent in April.
Somchai Harnhirun, director-general of the Office of Industrial Economics, said the Manufacturing Production Index (MPI) stood at 156.63 points in April, falling by 3.9 per cent year-on-year and declining 12.27 per cent from the previous month. The decline happened to automotive, beer, canned and frozen seafood, household electrical appliance and hard disk drive industrial sectors.
Natthapol Natthasomboon, director-general of the Department of Industrial Works, said indices of the number of factories, investment, workforces and horsepower decreased to 92.44, 385.33, 85.92 and 483.70 by 10.67 per cent, 9.89 per cent, 4.23 per cent, 36.01 per cent respectively.
The mineral industry showed the highest factory number and the highest horsepower while the automobile, auto maintenance and auto part industry had the biggest investment and workforce.
Udom Wongviwatchai, secretary-general of the Board of Investment, said investors’ applications for promotional privileges dropped by 22.08 per cent, 70.44 per cent and 58.84 per cent in terms of the project number, investment and employment respectively.
The factors showed that investors’ confidence in industries fell due to the economic slowdown, rising production costs and political concerns.
