Tourism surge, other indicators point to recovery of Thai economy: FPO
A 6,000-per-cent rise in foreign arrivals July is among positive signs that Thailand’s economy is recovering to stability, the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) said on Monday.
The FPO was announcing economic indicators and data for July.
July saw 1.12 million foreign arrivals, a rise of 6,126.3 per cent from the same month last year. Arrivals were also up 3.8 per cent from the previous month.
The majority of foreign tourists came from Malaysia, India, Vietnam and South Korea.
Domestic travel also increased to 16.7 million trips in July, up 1,818.6 per cent from last year and 2.4 per cent from the previous month.
Other positive indicators included a rise in consumption of durable goods.
For example, the sale of vehicles rose 15 per cent while motorcycle registrations rose 16.4 per cent compared with July last year.
Revenue from value-added tax (VAT) rose 1.8 per cent year on year while the consumer confidence index in July rose 0.8 points from June to 42.4.
Land and property tax revenue rose 8.5 per cent from July last year but dropped 4.8 per cent from the previous month.
July’s export value stood at US$23.629 billion, up 4.3 per cent from last year and seeing its 17th monthly rise in a row.
The agricultural production index also rose 1.1 per cent year or year while the industrial confidence index was up from 86.3 points in June to 89.0 points.
Private-sector investment fell by 5.1 per cent from July last year. However, investment in construction as reflected by cement sales rose by 6.3 per cent.
The FPO said Thailand’s economy was still enjoying stability with headline inflation of 7.61 per cent and core inflation at 2.99 per cent.
As of the end of June, the public debt-to-GDP ratio was 61.1 per cent. Meanwhile, newly laid-off workers applying for compensation from the Social Security Office in July constituted only 0.56 per cent of all Social Security Fund members.
