The FINANCIAL — Thailand’s central bank on June 30 released a mixed bag of economic data, indicating that tourism and public spending continued to be the main drivers of the economy in May, according to Nasdaq.
The country’s private consumption index slid 0.4% from a year earlier in May, widening from a revised 0.1% year-over- year slide in April, as falling farm income and concerns over economic uncertainty and drought have resulted in cautious household spending, Bank of Thailand said in a statement. May’s PCI, however, rose 1.3% from April, compared with a revised 0.8% on-month fall in the previous month.
The private investment index, meanwhile, dropped 0.4% from a year earlier in May — compared with a revised 0.7% on- year rise in the preceding month, following “a significant contraction in imports of capital goods and a decrease in commercial car sales,” according to the central bank. The investment index also fell 0.5% on-month in May, accelerating from a revised 0.2% month-over-month dip in April.
Exports contracted 5.5% from a year earlier, while imports fell 20.3%, helping Thailand record a trade surplus of $4.2 billion and a current-account surplus of $2.1 billion.
Thailand’s business sentiment index rose to 50.3 in May from 45.2 in April, according to the central bank’s report.
Tourism arrivals increased by 38.2% from a year earlier to 2.3 million in May, thanks mostly to an increase in the number of Chinese and Malaysian tourists, the bank said.
Government spending also surged 10.2% year-over-year in May, compared with a 2.1% on-year rise in April.
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