May 21, 2009
Bangkok (ASTV Manager Online) – Industrial confidence index rose from 69.4 in March to 76.3 in April, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.
Santi Vilassakdanont, FTI president, revealed that improving index was supported by the overall orders and sales as well as manufacturing.
Delayed domestic and overseas economy together with political situation affected businesses’ confidence.
The industrial confidence index has been lower than 100 for the 37th consecutive months since April 2006.
It is expected that the index will remain at 81 in the next three months as entrepreneurs anticipate both domestic and overseas sales will pick up.
This year’s index is still low compared with 91.7 in April, 2008. Dropping index reflects concerns over industrial tendency in the future.
Small and large businesses did better whereas medium-sized businesses shrank in line with decreasing sales in the pulp and paper, pharmaceutical as well as agricultural machinery industry.
