Thailand's Economy Shows Gradual Improvement in November

BANGKOK--Thailand's economy continued improving, though at a gradual pace, in November mainly on the back of domestic spending, according to the monthly report from the Bank of Thailand.

The Thai private consumption index increased 3.7% from a year ago in November, compared with the 2.2% on-year rise in October. On a monthly basis, Thai PCI went up 0.7%.

The country's November private investment index also rose 1.6% from last year, slowing down from a revised 2.1% year- over-year increase in the preceding month. Thailand's PII went up 0.8% month-over-month and the central bank noted that private investment has still been low "due to weak external demand."

According to the monthly report, Thailand's trade surplus has narrowed to $2.08 billion in November from $4.3 billion in October, as exports and imports contracted 6.6% and 8.5% on-year, respectively.

The central bank added that sluggish merchandise exports have contributed to low manufacturing production and large excess capacity in the sector, while imports of capital goods showed some improvement because of "a gradual lift in investment in some sectors."

Meanwhile, tourist arrivals totaled 2.54 million in November--a 5.1 % on-year increase--compared with the 2.2 million recorded in October.

The BOT also reported that Thailand's November business sentiment index eased slightly to 49.1 from 50.2 in October.

"The overall recovery, however, continued to be weighed down by lackluster performance of merchandise exports as a result of the slowdown in the Chinese and Asean economies as well as the effect of global oil-price slumps, which pushed down prices of some export goods," the central bank said. The bank added that public spending remained one of the country's main growth drivers to date.

December 30, 2015, 03:57:00 AM EDT By Dow Jones Business News