Drop in VAT revenue for 2 straight months
The Value-Added Tax (VAT) collected in July showed a 9.1-per-cent contraction year on year, representing a drop for two straight months, the Fiscal Policy Office said.
This contraction reflects a slowdown in domestic consumption, fiscal policy adviser Pornchai Triraveja said on August 28. The figure in June showed a contraction of 5.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, VAT collected in the first and second quarter of this year showed an expansion of 1.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively, however, it showed a 0.5 per cent drop in the first seven months of the year.
However, the agency believes the recently announced government stimulus package will help prop up the softening domestic consumption, adding that some economic indicators in July show that the economy had picked up a bit from the previous month.
For instance, the import of consumer goods by the private sector had risen 17.5 per cent year on year.
