BANGKOK, 2 September 2011 – People still have low confidence towards the Pheu Thai-led government upon concerns over high living costs, according to a recent survey by Assumption University Social Innovation in Management and Business Analysis Research Centre (ABAC SIMBA).
The consumer confidence index for the Pheu Thai-led government now stands at 51.01 points, which means that people still have low confidence towards the economic situation and solutions to deal with high living costs of the government.
The indices are low in all indicators. The lowest one falls on prices of consumer goods, at 15.6 points. Confidence in general economic and business situation, current income and expectation of personal income in the next three years now stand at 49 points, 70.6 points and 98.7 points respectively.
Nonetheless, the confidence index of the government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is still higher than the figure in the government under ex-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which was only at 37.6 points.
A major negative factor for the Pheu Thai government is the disappointment of people towards the implementation of policies to increase daily minimum wage to 300 baht and salary for fresh graduates to 15,000 baht, which cannot be made at once as announced in its election campaign.
Other negative factors are expensive prices of consumer goods. The Pheu Thai-led government hence is encouraged to make its policies clearer to the public, especially the policies to increase income and reduce the living costs of people.
