BANGKOK – The Center for Economic and Business Forecasting of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce expects domestic spending at the start of the new school semester to reach almost 50 billion Baht.
The university conducted a poll on the spending habits of consumers at the start of the new school semester, with results forecasting up to 49 billion Baht in spending, a 2.3 percent increase on the same period last year. The figure is the largest forecast in three years, with costs mostly associated with tuition, school fees, supplies, books and uniforms, all of which have risen in price.
Meanwhile the survey revealed that most parents have household debts averaging over 200,000 Baht, an increase of 24 percent compared to last year. Most families have indicated costs associated with the new semester are beyond their income capacity and many have had to resort to pawning personal items instead of taking out loans.
The survey said that most families want the government to place greater importance on education, standardize the quality of available education in rural and urban schools, raise the standards of educational personnel, revise course material to suit the country’s development and increase the salaries of educational personnel to incentivize quality work.
