Thai marketers fear economic woes worsening

BANGKOK: Marketers in Thailand are in for a difficult second half of the year as consumer confidence continues to drop and consumers consider cutting back on spending, according to a survey from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. It showed that consumers are wary of the worsening economy and most believe that a quick turnaround of the situation was unlikely. "Most of the decline in confidence was due to the on-going slowdown of the economy. The negative factors that pose a threat to economic recovery have intensified, while there are hardly any positive factors," said Thanavath Phonvichai, director of the university's Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting. Thanavath said negative factors included the Bank of Thailand's lowering of projected economic growth this year, increasing fuel prices and the weakening of the baht to more than 45 to the US dollar. Also, the economic outlook in the United States and Japan was uncertain, Thailand was slow in resolving bad loans and commodity prices were low, he said. According to the report, the consumer-confidence index has declined for three months in a row, from February to April. The April survey covered 1,713 respondents, 40.9 per cent in Bangkok and the rest in the provinces.

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