Mr. Somchai Sujjapongse, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office, revealed that "Thai economy in November 2013 showed slowing sign from domestic spending and exports, while manufacturing production showed more contraction. Private consumption in November 2013 showed slowing sign from previous month. This was reflected by the real VAT collection in November 2013, which contracted by -8.3 percent from last year. However, durable goods consumption as reflected by motorcycle sales in November 2013 decreased by -16.7 percent per year in Bangkok and others regions. Consumer Confidence Index in November 2013 stood at 65.0 points, lowest in the 22th month since February 2012 due to political instability. For private investment indicators of machinery sector, import value of capital goods in November 2013 decreased by -18.7 percent per year. However, private investment in construction in November 2013 showed stable sign from last month. This was measured by the real estate tax collection in November 2013 which expanded by 3.5 percent per year, with an increase of 0.4 percent from previous month after seasonal adjustment (m-o-m SA). This was in tandem with increasing housing price and rising demand in real estate along with increasing supply from real estate entrepreneurs which launched new projects in city areas.
Exports in November 2013 showed greater contraction from last month which decreased by -4.1 percent from last year. This was due to global economy slowdown which wasn't yet recovered and agricultural products. Looking into details, export products that showed contraction were agricultural products, vehicles and fuel.
Supply-side indicators in November 2013 as reflected by Manufacturing Production Index (MPI, preliminary data) in November 2013 continued to decrease by -10.6 percent from a year earlier. Looking into detail, the manufacturing sectors which showed contraction were food and beverage industry, automobile and electronics. However, service sector as reflected by the number of inbound tourists showed strong expansion which increased by 11.9 percent from last year, with an expansion of 1.6 percent from previous month after seasonal adjustment (m-o-m SA). Agricultural Production Index (API) in November 2013 expanded by 5.3 percent from last year. This was mainly due to increasing livestock and crops.
Economic stability remained robust. Headline inflation in November 2013 was at 1.9 percent, while core inflation rate stood at 0.9 percent. Unemployment rate in October 2013 stood at 0.6 percent of total labor force. Likewise, external economic stability remained robust and resilient to the risk from volatilities in the global economy, as indicated by the highlevel of international reserves at the end of November 2013 at 167.5 billion USD, or approximately 2.8 times of short-term external debt."
Source: Fiscal Policy Office / www.fpo.go.th