The Thai Industry Sentiment Index (TISI) of March 2023 increased to 97.8 the highest level in 10 years, boosted by domestic demand and recovering tourism.
The survey was conducted by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) among 1,322 entrepreneurs in 45 industry clubs.
The TISI in March rose to 97.8 from 96.2 in February due to many positive factors such as the expansion of domestic demand, the expansion of construction industry sector and regional purchasing power due to increasing in agricultural sector income. The tourism sector continued to recover thanks to an increase in the number of foreign tourists and government measures to support domestic tourism.
However, entrepreneurs were concerned about high production costs especially raw materials and electricity prices. The energy price remains volatile. The uptrend of interest rate affects SMEs. Another negative factor was weak foreign demand in line with the global economic recession. Thai baht fluctuation is still a risk factor of Thai exports.
The FTI’s index for industry sentiment for the next three months increased to 106.3, up from 103.2 in February as Thai economy tended to expand continuously driven by tourism sector and domestic consumption. China’s border reopening is supporting the tourism sector and Thai exports in the second half of this year. However, there are risks from global economic and geopolitics problems, which tend to become more severe.
The recommendations to the government sector:
- Request to reconsider the resolution of the Energy Regulatory Commission to automatically reduce the Fuel Adjustment Charge (Ft) in the second installment (May-August 2023) to be lower than 4.40 baht/unit
- Supporting new exporting market expansion such as in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Pacific Alliance especially for exports of motor vehicles and auto parts products, electrical appliances, air conditioners, rubber products, furniture, etc
- Solving forest fire problems according to the ad hoc plan to solve the dust pollution problem in 2023. (TNA)
