BANGKOK, March 9 (TNA) — The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sent confidence among the members of the Thai Chamber of Commerce to its lowest level in nine quarters.
Thanavath Phonvichai, president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said COVID-19 caused business confidence to continuously decline as the business confidence index fell from 45.4 in January to 44.9 in February, the lowest in 27 months.
The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in the contraction of tourism and the service sector, lower spending among people and declining demand in local and international markets, he said.
He estimated economic losses worth about 500 billion baht in tourism and the service sector while the government planned assistance worth about 150 billion baht.
Most operators expected the situation would gradually and slightly improve in the next six months but they would still feel uncertain about the economic situation, Mr Thanavath said. (TNA)
