The confidence of surveyed businessmen in the second quarter of this year has improved for the first time in four quarters as they expected domestic economic recovery, a Krungthai Bank survey reported.

The survey was conducted on about 2,300 businessmen nationwide in last three months and found their confidence index rose from 49.52 in the first quarter of this year to 51.05 in the second quarter. It was the first increase of the confidence index in four quarters.

The survey showed that the businessmen based their growing confidence on relieved political situations and economic stimulation measures by the National Council for Peace and Order, including the local diesel price capped at 30 baht a litre, the extended imposition of the value-added tax rate at 7 percent for another year, the maintained 20 percent corporate income tax, support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and the quick formulation of the 2015 national budget, according to MCOT.

The promulgation of the interim charter of Thailand also presented a clear political structure of the country and boosted foreign investors' confidence. It was predicted that the Thai economy would expand by 2 percent this year.-VNA