BANGKOK, 22 April 2011 – Confidence of business entrepreneurs across the country in the first quarter this year is found to decrease, according to Krung Thai Business Index (KTBI) conducted by the state-owned Krung Thai Bank (KTB).
KTB Senior First Executive Vice President Patcharasiri Kiatkumjai, also the managing director of the risk management and compliance group, stated that the KTBI fell to 52.51 in the first quarter this year from 55.69 in the fourth quarter last year.
The falling index is caused by the rising oil price following the violence in Libya, twin disasters in Japan as well as the southern flood in Thailand. The incidents have been triggering concerns among entrepreneurs on production, purchasing power and the economy in general.
However, the index managed to stay above the average 50 for seven consecutive quarters, which reflects that business entrepreneurs still have confidence that the economy will be expanding continuously.The KTBI is conducted every quarter with 2,000 entrepreneurs of all business sizes nationwide.
Business entrepreneurs in the survey also agreed that all the negative incidents dragging the confidence in the first quarter this year would stay for a short term, and concerns will ease off if both the public and private sectors work together to solve the problem and provide information.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s economic fundamentals remain strong, following the rising purchasing power of farmers, laborers and government officials. In addition, the export sector is growing continuously.
