The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) rose for the first time in seven months to 87.8 points in September, thanks to the speedy establishment of the new government and promising policies to deal with economic woes, says the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
The indicator tallied 86.4 points in August, the lowest level recorded since June 2022.
The Anutin Charnvirakul government spent less than a month to form a new cabinet after his predecessor Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed as the prime minister by the Constitutional Court on Aug 29 for an ethics violation.
The new government has launched many policies to retore the economy, boosting confidence among businesses, said Apichit Prasoprat, vice-chairman of the FTI.
He applauded the Finance Ministry’s measure to help small and medium-sized enterprises gain better access to financial sources.
“This measure significantly enhanced liquidity for business operators,” said Mr Apichit.
The increase in the TISI in September was attributed to higher exports of agricultural and electronic products, especially to the Malaysian, Vietnamese and Taiwanese markets, he said.
Domestic sales of electric vehicles continued to increase this month, driven partly by the BIG Motor Sale 2025, a 10-day car event that ended on Aug 31.
Foreign direct investment also showed a positive trend, after the January to August period, it rose by 125% year-on-year to 225.5 billion baht, said Mr Apichit.
In September, besides the negative impact of baht appreciation on exports, agricultural output was adversely affected by heavy monsoon rains and flooding in many provinces, disrupting raw material supplies for the agricultural and food processing industries, he said.
The September TISI was based on a survey of 1,356 entrepreneurs across 47 industry clubs under the FTI. Domestic economic conditions topped the list of their concerns, gaining the votes of 66.8%, followed by government policies (54.6%) and loan access (30.3%).
Global economic uncertainties were on the top of respondents’ growing concerns with the votes of 62.4%, followed by foreign exchange rate fluctuations (47.4%).
