Attachment
Issue 6/2017
27 February 2017
Mr. Krisada Chinavicharana, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance revealed that "The Thai economy in January 2017 was supported by tourism sector as reflected by the number of inbound foreign tourists which expanded by 6.5 percent per year, while exports continued to grow by 8.8 percent. Meanwhile, private expenditures showed improving signs from farmers' income which continued to expand by 16.8 percent corresponding with Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) which improved for 2 months consecutively partially due to government's economic stimulus measures. In addition, private investment showed improving signs from investment in equipment and machinery as commercial car sales turned to increase by 4.5 percent." The details were summarized as follows:
Economic indicators on private expenditures in January 2017 showed improving signs as reflected by real VAT collection which expanded by 2.3 percent per year corresponding with real farmers' income which expanded by 16.8 percent per year partially due to an improvement of agricultural prices in overall. In addition, Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) improved from the previous month by increasing to 63.1 points due to supportive factor such as government's economic stimulus measures which positively affected to overall economy. Meanwhile, private investment showed positive signs particularly in construction sector as reflected by domestic cement sales which expanded by 2.0 percent per year and investment in equipment and machinery as reflected by commercial car sales which expanded by 4.5 percent per year and expanded by 1.3 percent per month after seasonal adjustment.In addition, export value continued to expand by 8.8 percent per year, while import value expanded by 5.2 percent per year. As such the greater export values compared to that of import values resulted in the continued trade surplus of 0.8 billion USD.
Supply-side indicators in January 2017 were supported by tourism sector which expanded well as reflected by the number of inbound foreign tourists in January 2017 which was recorded at 3.2 million persons expanding by 6.5 percent per year and this generated income to foreign tourism sector by 169 billion baht expanding by 10.3 percent per year. Considering by countries, tourists showing an expansion were mainly from China, Russia, Hong Kong, India, and East Europe.
Economic stabilities remained robust.In January 2017 headline inflation and core inflation expanded by 1.6 and 0.7 percent per year, respectively. In addition, unemployment rate was 1.2 percent of total labor force. Meanwhile, Public debt to GDP at the end of December 2016 stood at 42.2 percent to GDP, lower than the Fiscal Sustainability Framework of 60 percent to GDP. The international reserves at the end of January 2017 were high at 179.2 billion USD, approximately 3.2 times of short-term external debt as of December 2016 reflecting the resilient ability to risk from the volatilities in global economy.
Source: Fiscal Policy Office / www.fpo.go.th