BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s industrial sentiment index rose for the first time in seven months in September, with confidence boosted by the government’s quick efforts to put systems in place to allow new stimulus measures, the Federation of Thai Industries said on Wednesday.
As part of its efforts to meet a growth target of 2.2% this year, the government has already launched a co-payment scheme worth $1.4 billion that will subsidise the cost of living for around 20 million people.
It has recently approved a 2026 state-owned enterprise investment budget worth $49 billion, which it said would lift GDP next year by 0.3%. The government is also aiming to spend $307 million to buy bad debt.
The FTI said its industrial sentiment index increased to 87.8 in September from 86.4 in August. Its forecast for the next three months was also optimistic.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is projected to expand by 1.8% to 2.3% this year, according to the state planning agency, and is likely to slow down sharply in the second half of 2025 due to the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Last year’s economic growth rate of 2.5% lagged peers.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Thanadech Staporncharnchai, Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by John Mair and David Stanway)
