BANGKOK: Thai consumer confidence fell to a 10-year low in October because of flooding that has taken 533 lives and shut thousands of factories, with another industrial estate threatened on Thursday as water spread in the east of the capital, Bangkok.
”The flooding has dragged down consumer confidence and it will probably fall further if the economy is severely affected and the government can’t speed up rebuilding within 3-6 months,” said university economist Thanavath Phonvichaisaid.
The flooding began in the north of the country in late July, ruining a quarter of the main rice crop now being harvested and overwhelming industrial estates north of Bangkok in October.
Now the capital itself is in danger. Residents in a third of its districts, mostly in the north of the densely populated city of 12 million people, have been advised to get out. (UNI)