Nearly B57b expected to be circulated during Chinese New Year Festival 2018

BANGKOK, February 8, (TNA) - The upcoming Chinese New Year Festival 2018 should see nearly 57 billion baht to be circulated across Thailand, an almost 4 per cent increase from 2017, thanks to people's rising income and the recovering national economy. Thanawat Phonvichai, Director of the Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, under Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), told journalists on Thursday his center's recent survey found that about 56.86 billion baht should be changed hands across the country during next week's Chinese New Year Festival, a 3.52 per cent year-on-year increase from last year. Thanawat said 45.9 per cent of random respondents would do shopping more slightly than last year for food and worship materials to pay tribute to their ancestors traditionally, followed by spending on their merit makings, consumer products, covering new clothes and shoes, and cash gifts to be presented to their beloved ones, as well as on domestic and overseas travels. However, Thanawat noted that most of the random respondents nationwide had no travel plans during this year's Chinese New Year Festival, only the remaining 23.7 per cent had their travel plans with their families, mostly in the country during February 16-19, and the rest, but in a higher proportion than last year, wanted to travel overseas, namely China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. The senior economist estimated, meanwhile, that over 60 billion baht should be circulated during this year's Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year Festival, the highest figure in 10 years, accounting for 0.3 per cent of Thailand's total gross domestic product (GDP) despite people's spending with more deliberation. (TNA)