Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s consumer price index (CPI) fell by 1.57percent in June from a year earlier, the country’s Ministry of Commerceannounced on July 3.
Director-General of the ministry’s Trade Policy and StrategyOffice Pimchanok Vonkorpon said that the fall is lower than expectations and improvescompared to the 3.44 percent decline in May.
She attributed the fall to decreases of 2.53 percent innon-food prices and 16.14 percent in fuel prices.
She added that the CPI witnessed a year-on-yearreduction of 1.13 percent in the first half of 2020.
Inflation is likely to be negative every month in the secondhalf due in part to last year's high comparative figures, Pimchanok stated,adding that the main factor pressuring inflation is the tourism sector becausethere will not be many foreign tourists coming to Thailand due to the COVID-19pandemic.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports predicted that theSoutheast Asian nation may welcome only 9 million foreign visitors this year, asignificant drop compared to the record number of 39.8 million in 2019./.