Thailand’s consumer spending expected to rise sharply in New Year Festival
Bolstered by the government’s stimulus measures, Thailand's consumer spending is predicted to hit a 17-year high, reaching 103.04 billion THB (2.9 billion USD).
Bangkok (VNA) – Bolstered by thegovernment’s stimulus measures, Thailand's consumer spending is predicted to hita 17-year high, reaching 103.04 billion THB (2.9 billion USD).
Thanavath Phonvichai, an adviser to the Centre forEconomic and Business Forecasting, revealed at theconference on “Consumer behaviour and spending during 2023 New Year festival”that it would be the first time that consumer spending would be exceeding 100billion THB since 2007.
With the support of the government’s stimulusmeasures, such as “Shop Dee Mee Kuen” (Shop and Payback) and “Rao Tiew DuayKan” (We Travel Together) schemes during the first quarter of next year, thecountry’s economy is expected to grow by 0.1-1%, said Thanavath.
Adviser to the University of the Thai Chamber ofCommerce (UTCC)’s Council Saowanee Thairungroj said that the survey regardingconsumer spending behaviour during the New Year festival, conducted betweenDecember 9-16 with a sample size of 1,345 participants across the country,showed that 69.8% of respondents are likely to spend money on travelling andparty through the New Year period.
The survey also illustrated that consumers tend tobuy more luxurious goods, with a basket of healthy products as the most popularNew Year gift.
Some 48.3% of respondents thought that this New Yearfestival would be more bustling than the previous year, she said.
Meanwhile, Kasikorn Research Centre (KResearch)expected spending by Bangkokians during the New Year festival to be around 30.9billion THB, up 10.5% year on year following recovery in economic activitiesand tourism in the post-COVID-19 era.
However, most people would set aside their budgetonly for the four-day-long New Year holidays (December 30, 2022, to January 2,2023) due to uncertainty over rising product prices, KResearch said./.
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Illustrative image (Source: AFP/VNA) 
