The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) has been impacted by a decline in export figures that resulted from a slowdown in the global economy. The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), which produced the TISI, said the private sector is concerned about heightened electricity and energy costs impacting the costs shouldered by businesses and is calling on the state to issue immediate assistance measures.
FTI vice chairman Montri Mahaplerkpong said April 2023’s index, produced from surveys on businesses in 45 industry categories, stood at 95.0 and declined from the 97.8 level in March. This was the first decline in 4 months and reductions were seen with almost every index component, including purchase orders, total sales, production amount, and earnings.
As for the FTI’s forward index for the next 3 months, Mr. Montri said a decline was also observed due to high volatility in the global economy and low demand from Thailand’s trading partners.
According to the vice chairman, the reduced confidence of industrial sector businesses partly resulted from a slowdown in manufacturing because of the Songkran long holidays. Meanwhile, foreign demand remained weak, with sales and purchase orders abroad continually declining because of the global slowdown. At the same time, businesses currently have low confidence in operating costs and are worried about potential rises in electricity and oil prices.
Mr. Montri added that borrowing interest rates have gone up and this has created more burden on businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. He said the private sector hopes the government will issue measures in aid of businesses impacted by the heightened electricity charge. He added the assistance might, for example, take the form of a budget being issued to provide power bill reductions for the industrial sector. (NNT)
