Banks confident Chinese New Year spending to be lively

Bangkok Bank has forecast that spending during this year’s Chinese New Year celebration will be vibrant, especially by Chinese visitors to the Kingdom in spite of their weakening currency.

Executive Vice President of Bangkok Bank Kobsak Pootrakul has voiced confidence that overall spending during the Chinese New Year festival this year will be lively even as the Chinese currency weakens. He gave his view that the situation in China should not impact tourist arrivals to Thailand as the Chinese economy continues to expand at a stronger rate than most countries.

He noted that while Thai consumers may have buying power, they lack confidence and need more stimulus measures, such as the recent “Shopping for the Nation” campaign. Combined with tourism stimulus projects by the government, Kobsak believes domestic Chinese New Year spending can be enlivened.

The nation’s seven commercial banks have prepared up to 166 billion baht for spending during the holiday, up by 9.7 billion last year. Bangkok Bank has reserved 35 billion baht for the period, Siam Commercial Bank has prepared 33 billion, Krungsri Bank has set aside 28.6 billion, Krungthai Bank has readied 20 billion and Kasikorn Bank has made sure to have 40 billion baht on hand.

NNT

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