6.4 billion expected to be spent during Chinese New Year Festival 2017

BANGKOK, Jan 19 (TNA) -- The Kasikorn Research Centre (KRC) has projected that up to 6.4 billion baht would be spent on the purchase of offerings for the upcoming Chinese New Year, which was higher spending compared with the previous year. The KRC, a subsidiary company of Kasikorn Bank, has forecast that Bangkokians would spend about 6.4 billion baht to purchase goods for the Chinese New Year celebrations this year, an increase of around 3 per cent from the previous year, where one family would spend 3,600 baht on average this year. The hike, the centre said, is due mainly to the higher prices of offerings. Although, the Chinese New Year is the most important celebrations for Thai-Chinese descendants, but the atmosphere ahead of the festival is not as lively and active as in previous years, as the consumers' spending powers have been under pressure from the higher cost of living and increase household debts, prompting many Chinese descendants to save up money more than spend them. Meanwhile, the KRC noted that the amount money used as gifts or Aung Pao (red envelopes given by elders to children and relatives) this year would remained at the same level as in 2016, as the domestic is not yet showing clear signs of recovery, which in turn would affect the liveliness of related businesses that usually expanded in prior years. Nonetheless, the new generations of the Thai-Chinese descendants are playing a bigger role in the markets, as most would consider the price, quality, and necessity of the products more, which is in contrary to the older generations, as the would focus on purchasing everything according to ancient traditions. (TNA)