Aug 08, 2012
Economists’ confidence in the economy dropped to 45.57 points last month, down from 47.31 points reported in April, according to survey results released on Wednesday by Bangkok Poll.
The Research Centre at the Bangkok University, or Bangkok Poll,surveyed 62 economists at 27 leading agencies on their confidence in the economy over the next 3-6 months, from July 25-31.
The economists' confidence index has stayedbelow 50 points nowforthree consecutive quarterly surveyssince the firstpoll in January. This showsthe current economy is still weak in the eyes of the respondents, the pollster reported.
Bangkok Poll attributed the decline inconfidence to the drop in exports caused by the impact of the eurozone debt crisis.
The confidence index for the next three months stood at 56.08 points and 55.80 points for the next six months, showingoptimism foran improvement in the near future, it said.
The economists believed the main factors that would mobilise the economy were government spending in infrastructure development and flood prevention projects, andexpansion in the tourism sector, notexports, the pollster added.
However,confidence in the next six months was lower than that of the next three months. This showed that the future of Thai economy was not bright and that the growth rate would be lower than earlier projected, said Bangkok Poll.
