TISI Rises For Third Straight Month

The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) for January increased to 112.7 from 109.7 in December 2010, Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said on Thursday (February 17).
The recent survey on confidence of the industry sector by the FTI involved 1,006 samples in 39 industrial groups under the federation’s umbrella.
“The TISI went up for three consecutive months. The index stands above the 100 level, showing that manufacturers have high confidence in the economy,” said Mr Payungsak.
The FTI chairman attributed the index improvement to the increasing domestic demand on the back of high prices of agricultural products, particularly rubber, that helped increase purchasing power of farmers, the government’s policy to keep the diesel price below 30 baht a litre and the weakening baht that helped boost the export and tourism sectors.
However, manufacturers were still concerned about future prices of fuel, the upward trend of the policy interest rate, the higher prices of raw materials that affected production costs, and political conflict that could be prolonged and hurt the economy and confidence of investors, he said.
Mr Payungsak said manufacturers wanted the state to introduce measures to curb imports of low quality products, continue to further stimulate the economy, rapidly bring about political stability, put on hold its plan to raise the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for industrial use, speed up its mega-investment projects, promote overseas investment by the private sector and promote trade and investment in areas along the region’s transportation routes.
(Bangkok Post, Thailand, February 17, 2011)