Mr. Satit Rungkasiri, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office, revealed that “Thai economy in August 2010 continued to expand well given strong domestic demand, from both private consumption and private investment, and better-than-expected exports. The strong private consumption was reflected by the real-term VAT collection, which expanded at 18.7 percent from last year. The strong private investment was reflected by higher imports of capital goods, which expanded at 34.2 percent from last year. Moreover, export value in August expanded at a good pace at 23.9 percent from last year, or at 20.6 percent from a month earlier, especially from the strong rebound from exports to US, EU and Japan.”
Mr. Boonchai Charassangsomboon, Executive Director of Macroeconomic Policy Bureau, further elaborated that “Economic indicators in August also suggest strong domestic consumption. In particular, imports of consumption goods in August expanded at 31.5 percent and imports of capital goods in August expanded at 34.5 percent from last year. Moreover, exports expanded in all key sectors with the overall export volume expanding at 16.4 percent per year.”
Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office concluded that “Given the expected strong expansion during the third quarter of 2003, the Thai economy in 2010 is forecasted to expand at 7.5% from last year.