Thai consumer confidence hits record low

Thai consumer confidence dropped to a record low in July, dented by the country’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak to date, a sluggish vaccine rollout and a slowing economic recovery, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country has struggled with a surge in infections fuelled by the Delta variant of the virus and this week extended stricter containment measures for a month, with lockdown areas expanded.

The restrictions are expected to reduce gross domestic product (GDP) by 2-3 per cent, or 500 billion baht ($15 billion), university president Thanavath Phonvichai told a briefing.

The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s consumer index fell to 40.9 in July from 43.1 in June amid concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak and political uncertainty, the university said.

“Consumers felt the economy was still bad,” Thanavath said. “Confidence in August is expected to drop further, signalling a slow economy with no signs of recovery,” he added.

The economy is now expected to shrink as much as 2 per cent this year, rather than meet earlier predictions of 0 per cent to 1 per cent growth.