Thailand's business confidence index up

BANGKOK, June 2 (TNA) - A business confidence index conducted by Thailand's state-run Krung Thai Bank (KTB) shows that confidence in the Thai economy among local business operators has been up in all regions across the country for the past two quarters. KTB Executive Vice President for Risk Management Group Poonpat Sripleng told journalists on June 1 that the increased business confidence index for two consecutive quarters was the result of the latest surveys of over 2,200 clients of his bank who are business operators nationwide. Poonpat pointed out that the increased business confidence index found from the latest surveys was in line with Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth trend in the first quarter. According to the KTB executive vice president, there were four business clusters, in which the business confidence index was higher than its normal standard level, including the financial and insurance, the construction, the commercial and the industrial business clusters, cushioned by the Thai government's spending on public construction projects, as well as rising sale volumes of automobiles, food and beverages and retailed fuel on the domestic market. The KTB executive vice president projected, however, that the business confidence index in the second quarter of this year should remain stable, despite the recovering Thai economy, due to declining prices of major economic crops, namely rice, rubber and oil palm, coupled with a slow rebound of private investment and a delayed progress of the government's public projects, concerns over violent incidents, unstable foreign exchange rates and an uncertainty in external factors. However, the KTB executive vice president said the polled business operators expressed their hope that the Thai economy later this year could be boosted by the government's spending on public projects, including those on infrastructure development in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). (TNA)