Consumer confidence in April plunged into crisis territory, recording the sharpest monthly decline globally and across the Asia-Pacific region as economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, rising living costs, and dissatisfaction with government efforts to address the economy eroded public sentiment, according to the Ipsos Global Consumer Confidence Index.The findings suggest cautious consumer sentiment is likely to persist through to the end of the year.
"For the first time, this survey shows that Thai consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in the four years since the survey began," said Pimtai Suwannasuk, senior client manager at Ipsos Ltd.
The index found that Thailand's overall National Index fell to 45.5, a decrease of 10.9 points -- the largest decline in the world over the past month and the country's second-worst decline since the Covid-19 shock of 2020.
"We saw at the end of last year that consumer sentiment was quite positive due to the 'Half-Half' scheme and the upcoming election. However, in April, confidence went down because consumers could not see any tangible policies to tackle our economic challenges," Ms Pimtai said.
The index found that 71% of Thais describe the current economic situation as "bad", an increase of 17 percentage points within a single month, reflecting rapidly intensifying anxiety.
