Stable indicators for August consumption

Domestic consumption in August remained stable, but sales of passenger cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles have yet to fully recover.
The impact of flooding and exchange rate fluctuations must be monitored for their potential effects on the economy, said Pornchai Thiraveja, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO).
Mr Pornchai said the economy in August was supported by continuous growth in the tourism and export sectors.
Private consumption indicators were stable in August compared with the previous month.
Value-added tax (VAT) at constant prices increased by 9.6% year-on-year in August, while the number of newly registered passenger cars and motorcycles declined by 25.5% and 15.9% year-on-year, respectively.
VAT at constant prices refers to adjusting the nominal values for inflation or deflation to reflect real purchasing power over time. This concept is crucial for economic analysis as it allows comparisons across different periods without the distortion of price changes.
In practice, this means calculating VAT revenues or costs based on prices that have been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation.
According to Mr Pornchai, the consumer confidence index in July fell to 56.5 from 57.7 the previous month, reflecting concerns over the slow economic recovery and rising living costs.
However, real agricultural income grew by 7.2% year-on-year in August.
Private investment indicators for the month signalled a slowdown from the previous month. Private investment in machinery, reflected by the volume of capital goods imports, increased by 5.5% year-on-year in August, but declined by 8.9% month-on-month after seasonal adjustments.
The number of newly registered commercial vehicles also dropped by 22.5% year-on-year.
Private investment in construction, reflected by domestic cement sales, grew by 5.7% year-on-year in August, but decreased by 3.1% from the previous month after seasonal adjustments.
Real estate transaction taxes in August fell by 5.2% year-on-year and by 11.3% month-on-month after seasonal adjustments.
Total export value tallied US$26.1 billion in August, a 7.0% increase year-on-year.
Excluding oil, gold and military-related products, export growth was 6.6%, driven by a strong performance from computers, machinery and telecom equipment, with growth rates of 74.7%, 23.1% and 19.8%.
Economic stability remains favourable, reflected by a headline inflation rate of 0.35% in August and a core inflation rate of 0.62%, according to the FPO.
Public debt tallied 63.7% of GDP at the end of July, still within the fiscal discipline framework set by the 2018 State Fiscal and Financial Disciplines Act.
External stability remains strong, capable of withstanding global economic volatility, with international reserves steady at $236 billion as of the end of August.