BANGKOK, 28 Jan 2014 Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has readjusted its forecast on the growth rate of new credit card users down to 10%, although the figure tends to be reevaluated pending the outcome of the consumer’s spending during the Chinese New Year.
Assistant Senior Manager of the bank, Miss Araya Phupanich, unveiled that the cut-down rate derived from the bank’s careful assessment of the current economic situation in Thailand, however the bank deemed that further observation of consumer’s spending during the Chinese New Year was necessary to conclude the prediction.
She stated that the growth rate of the new credit card users in 2013 was in the range of 16% – 17%, based on the country’s overall economic performance. She also forecast the spending during this year’s Chinese New Year would be around 220 billion baht, a significantly smaller figure than that of the previous year.
Miss Araya viewed that credit card spending among high income earners would not falter while the spending by those earning less than 50,000 baht a month might be affected by the slowed down economy.
In addition, Miss Araya said the bank is exercising utmost caution in giving loans, as the ailing economy currently facing the nation is likely to increase the Non-Performing Loans rate.
