Thanawat Polvichai, director of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce's Economic and Business Forecasting Center, was quoted as saying that the economic confidence index declined to 90.9 points from 93.3 in February, job opportunity index dropped to 79.2 from 80.9, and future income index fell to 104.1 from 106.3.

He said it was quite difficult to forecast the direction of the consumer confidence index in April given uncertainties about the war in the Middle East and the outbreak of the SARS virus as well as the world economic recovery.

The center needed to closely monitor the situation. But given impacts from the war and the deadly pneumonia, it believed the global economy including that of Thailand would experience slowdown, Thanawat noted.

The center projected the country's economy in the second quarter would grow 3.5-4 percent against 4.5-5 percent forecasted earlier.

Should the war and SARS epidemic end in a short period, the economy was likely to grow 4-5 percent in the third quarter and 5 percent in the fourth quarter. It would result in the annual economic growth of 4-4.5 percent for this year, it added.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2003)