"Thailand economy in April 2019 continued its expansion, particularly in domestic demand as indicated by through real VAT collection, import volume of consumption goods, and passenger car sales which have grown significantly by 16.9 percent per year. Additionally, a recovery in the number of travelers from India, Japan, and Malaysia also played an important role for the economic growth. However, the export value has decreased by 2.6 percent per year. The stability in economy remains favorable both internally and externally."
Mr. Pornchai Thiraveja, Financial Policy Advisor as Spokesperson of Fiscal Policy Office, and Mr. Pisit Puapan, Executive Director of Macroeconomic Policy Bureau, as the Deputy Spokesperson of Fiscal Policy Office, revealed the economic report of April 2019 which states that: "Thailand economy in April 2019 continued its expansion as indicated by the increase in domestic demand via real VAT collection, import volume of consumption goods, and passenger car sales which have grown significantly by 16.9 percent per year. Additionally, a recovery in the number of travelers from India, Japan, and Malaysia also played an important role for the economic growth. However, the export value has decreased by 2.6 percent per year. The stability in economy remains favorable both internally and externally."
Economic indicators on private consumption expenditures of April 2019 remained constantly growing due to the VAT collection, passenger car sales, and import volume of consumption goods. Meanwhile, the Consumer Confidence Index remains constantly decreasing. The real VAT collection grew at 1.6 percent per year, 2.5 percent growth from last month when seasonally adjusted. This results in the growth at 1.6 percent per year for Jan-Apr 2019. Meanwhile, the consumption of goods is mainly indicated by the passenger car sales , which grew at 16.9 percent per year, 2.8 percent growth from last month when seasonally adjusted, resulting in the significant growth at 14.6 percent per year for JanApr 2019. On the other hand, registration of new motorcycles grew only slightly at 0.1 percent per year, causing the number of motorcycles for Jan-Apr 2019 to shrink by -0.1 percent per year. The import volume of consumption goods continues growing constantly at 6.4 percent per year, 6.7 percent growth from last month when seasonally adjusted. This results in the constant growth at 2.1 percent per year for Jan-Apr 2019. However, the consumer confidence index dropped slightly to 66.2.
Economic indicators on private investment for April 2019 recovered from the last month due to the investment in the machinery and equipment sector, while investment in the construction sector faced stagnation. This is indicated by the commercial car sales, which grew at 3.7 percent per year, 3.3 percent up from last month when seasonally adjusted, resulting in the growth at 8.0 percent per year for Jan-Apr 2019. Meanwhile, the import volume of capital goods once again grew at 1.6 percent per year. Despite this, the total value for Jan-Apr 2019 remained at low level due to the significant stagnation from the last three months. As for investment in the construction sector , the cement sales shrunk at -5.4 percent per year, albeit the seasonally adjusted value which grew at 0.7 percent from last month. The real estate tax collection shrunk significantly at -20.0 percent per year, -14.0 percent from last month when seasonally adjusted. Despite that, the construction material price index grew by 0.7 percent per year.
For the fiscal sector, the total government expenditure for April 2019 was at 262.7 billion baht, categorized as the following: annual expenditure at 211.9 billion baht, current expenditure at 186.0 billion baht, capital expenditure at 25.9 billion baht, and carry-over budget at 50.8 billion baht.
External demand in April 2019 continues to shrink due to the continued decline of exports, particularly those of goods in the industrial sector . The total export started showing the sign of recovery, despite the continuing drop at -2.6 percent per year, resulting in the drop at -1.9 percent per year for Jan-Apr 2019. Trading with main partner countries and regions, i.e. USA, India, CLMV countries, and Hong Kong, continues growing, while the total import decreased at -0.7 percent per year, resulting in the stagnation at -1.1 per year for Jan-Apr 2019. In addition, despite the trade deficit in April 2019 at 1.5 billion US dollar, the international trade of Thailand continues with the surplus of 0.5 billion US dollar for the first months of 2019.
Supply-side indicators in April 2019 shows the sign of dropping regarding the agricultural sector, while the touristic and industrial sectors continue growing.Regarding the agricultural sector, the agricultural production index dropped at -1.1 percent per year. In contrast, the seasonally adjusted value rose by 3.5 percent from last month. Meanwhile, the number of inbound foreign tourists in April 2019 was at 3.2 million, which increased at 3.3 percent per year. This is due to the rise in the number of tourists from India, Japan, and Malaysia. As for the industrial sector, the manufacturing production index grew by 2.0 percent per year, and Thai industries sentiment index dropped slightly to 95.0.
Both internal and external economic stability in April 2019 remain favourable, and the economy of Thailand is capable of tackling the risk from instability of world economy.
Source: Ministry of Finance