Consumer Confidence Recovers but Outlook Remains Unclear

The Thai retail industry took a heavy blow from COVID-19 pandemic due to the travel restrictions, lockdown measures and decline in consumer’s confidence and spending.

The financial challenges from COVID-19 together with the obscured economic outlook compelled both retail landlords and tenants to hold back from resuming full activity with balanced plans in the third and fourth quarters of 2020.

Thailand’s consumer confidence index (CCI) fell to 50.1 in July 2020, dropping by 24.9 percentage points or a decline of 33.2% Y-o-Y but increasing from 49.2 a month earlier. In addition, household debt in Q1 2020 (latest available data) was reported at 80.1% of Thailand’s GDP, which heavily impacted the overall spending power.

The latest available data as of June 2020 for the retail sales index, according to the Bank of Thailand, was at 219.05, dropping 46.1 percentage points or a 17.39% Y-o-Y decline. The decline was significantly seen in the decrease in the sales of motor vehicles and automotive fuel at -24.3% Y-o-Y.