Economy and commerce

Consumer spending is expected to decline by up to 50 billion baht a month as a result of the new outbreak of Covid-19 which also threatens to cause a further drop in the Consumer Confidence Index over the next three months, says the University of ...

Thailand’s economy may expand less than forecast this year, a central bank official said on Friday, after a third wave of coronavirus infections and concerns about the presence of a highly contagious variant.The tourism-reliant economy suffered the deepest slump in over two decades last year, ...

The new Covid-19 outbreak, which stunned Thai people with a new hardly controlled virus variant, continues to raise more concerns over economic health, adding fiscal-monetary burdens to the government, now likely to see GDP miss its target.The Federation of Thai Industry (FTI) on Thursday warned ...

Electronic money (e-money) has grown in terms of spending and top-up value, driven by consumers’ financial behaviour in the digital age and social distancing amid the pandemic.According to the Bank of Thailand, e-money spending value has continued to increase for the past five years.Keep reading ...

The International Monetary Fund upgraded its global economic growth forecast for the second time in three months, while warning about widening inequality and a divergence between advanced and lesser-developed economies.The global economy will expand 6% this year, up from the 5.5% pace estimated in January, ...

Thailand’s Consumer Confidence Index in March fell to 48.5 points from 49.4 points in February over fears from a new wave of Covid-19 and political instability, a forecaster said Thursday.The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, which measures the index, said that economic growth ...

The Bank of Thailand felt that a spike in long-term government bond yields had only a limited impact on the economy when it decided to keep its key rate at a record low last month, meeting minutes showed on Wednesday.Long-term Thai bond yields moved in ...

The Bank of Thailand says it will begin testing use of its retail digital currency for the general public in the second quarter of next year before fully implementing it over the next three to five years.The retail central bank digital currency (retail CBDC) is ...

The Thai baht was the worst performer among commonly traded Southeast Asian currencies during the first quarter, as its fundamentals were eroded due to lack of tourist spending.The baht depreciated 4% against the U.S. dollar to 31.24, according to Refinitiv data. The fall stood out ...

The tourism-reliant economy could contract in the first quarter from the preceding three months and the corresponding year earlier period due to the impact of a new coronavirus outbreak, the central bank said on Wednesday.The Southeast Asian country had largely contained the spread of Covid-19 ...