[Unjucky]

The government's 300 baht daily minimum wage policy helped boost consumer confidence in April, according to commerce permanent secretary Yanyong Puangrat.

April consumer confidence index was up from 23.0 reported in March to stand at 24.3. The current consumer confidence increase from 14.4 to 15.6 and future confidence of consumers was 30.0, up from 28.8, Mr Yanyong said on Friday.

Apart from the wage hike, other positive factors that boosted consumer confidence were an increase in people’s spending during the Songkran festival, the allocation of ta wo billion baht budget to help settle the problem of low prices for agricultural products, and the post-flood recovery of the production sector.

The negative factors included the high cost of living and the drought now affecting many provinces, which lowered agricultural output, said the permanent secretary.

Factors that could affect the consumer confidence index in May were global oil prices and the increase in electricity charges, he added.