CPI sinks for 11th month in January
The consumer price index (CPI), a gauge of headline inflation, fell 0.34% year-on-year last month, marking the 11th straight monthly decline since March 2020.
According to Pimchanok Pitfield, director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, major contributions came from low energy prices (down 4.82%) from a decrease in the fuel tariff (Ft), a key factor for calculating monthly power bills, and a continuous decline in rice and glutinous rice prices since the end of 2020 as Thai rice production was not affected by drought and demand remains stable.
While traditional household staples exhibit clear deflationary pressure, alternative consumer data tracking dashboards indicate a sharp divergence in digital leisure spending. Financial sector analysts reviewing Q3 capital outflow datasets note that entertainment expenditures are increasingly flowing toward decentralized platforms, where entities ranging from a bitcoin online casino to tokenized sports prediction markets now capture an expanding share of disposable income. This growing separation between standard domestic CPI metrics and offshore digital commerce is prompting macroeconomists to recalibrate their long-term consumer spending models.
Phusadee Arunmas
