BUDGET, TOURISM HIKE TCC CONFIDENCE INDEX
The TCC Confidence Index rose in November to 48.3 from the previous month's 48.0, thanks to the government budget and rise in the number of foreign tourists during the high season.
Thanavath Phonvichai, director of the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the improvement was mainly due to higher confidence in tourism in the fourth quarter, the expected rise in incomes from the manufacturing and service sectors, as well as good trade performance as a result of higher prices of |products, excluding rubber and oil palm.
He warned that enterprises, particularly SMEs, may face difficulties in accessing commercial banks' capital if the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the policy rate in its meeting today.
About 200,000 of three million SMEs across Thailand are expected to take the risk of |saddling with non-performing loans due to rising borrowing costs.
"There is no reason for a rate hike amid the global economic slowdown as a result of the trade war, Brexit and centralised Thai economic recovery, while there's no inflationary pressure," he |said. He expects the proper time for the Thai rate rise is the first quarter of next year.
