Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand's industrial output rose for the first time in 19 months in April at 3.43% year on year due to higher export and tourism growth, according to the Southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Industry.
Deputy Director-General of the ministry's Office of Industrial Economics Siripen Kiatfuengfoo attributed the first monthly increase since September 2022 partly to last year's low comparative base.
It's good news, she said, stressing that it's the first month of growth after 18 consecutive months of contraction.
Factory output for the January-April period dropped 2.06% and is expected to rise between 0% to 1% for the full year, the ministry said.
The figure compared with a forecast of a 1.1% year-on-year fall for April in a Reuters poll, and followed an annual decrease of 5.13% in March.
Thailand received 14.33 million foreign visitors between Jan. 1 and May 26, up 38% year-on-year, with 2.8 million Chinese visitors and overall spending of 683 billion baht (18.55 billion USD) according to Thailand’s Tourism Ministry data.
Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Commerce on May 23 announced data showing that the country's exports in April reached 23.27 billion USD, up 6.8% over the same period in 2023 after a decrease of 10.9% in March.
This was a much faster pace than analysts' expectations, and the ministry expected shipments to post a small gain in the second quarter./.
