Industrialists hope for more expanding economy after Thailand's general election

BANGKOK, March 22 (TNA) - The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) says that the Thai Industry Sentiment Index (TISI) over the next three months stands at the 105.4 level, as surveyed industrialists hope for the more expanding national economy in the wake of the country's general election on March 24. FTI Chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree told journalists of the update on March 21 following the FTI's latest random survey on opinions of domestic industrialists last month. Supant explained that the updated TISI level over the next three months increases from the 104.1 level found in January 2019, thanks to the respondents' optimism that the newly-elected Thai government after the country's new general election on the coming Sunday should drive ahead the national economy with a clearer direction, resulting in the more expanding domestic economy in the second half of this year. According to the FTI chairman, the respondents proposed, however, that the newly-elected Thai government implement more concrete measures to enhance the competitiveness of domestic industries in the present "disruptive technology" era, promote and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nationwide to be able to access to more innovations and speed up its talks and conclusion on more free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries in the Middle East, Africa, the Eurozone and the Eurasia. The FTI chief acknowledged, meanwhile, that the TISI for last month stood at the 95.6 level, its highest level in six years and higher than the 93.8 level for January 2019 due to the same reason, boosted mainly by the optimism of surveyed industrialists in the domestic food, construction and automobile and parts sectors over the national economy in the second half of this year and by the progressive mega public investment projects. (TNA)