Almost half of Thai-Chinese questioned in a Bangkok University survey said they would cut their spending for the forthcoming Chinese New Year, due to worries about the economic crisis.

The survey questioned 1,108 people who shopped at 11 fresh markets in Bangkok on Wednesday and Thursday, the website by Bangkok Post reported on Friday.

Of the total respondents, 49.2 percent said they would spend less comparing to last year's because of the country's economic slowdown and the family's falling income.

And about 25.5 percent said they planned to spend as much as they did last year since prices of goods did not differ much from that of the previous year.

However, another 25.3 percent said they would spend more than last year as prices of goods were higher, and that they needed high-quality products, the website reported.

Amid the global economic slump, the Thai government plans to inject a supplementary spending budget worth at least 115 billion baht (3.3 billion U.S. dollars) to boost the domestic economy.

Also, a series of tax measures which range from the property sector, tourism sector, small- and medium-sized (SMEs) industry to household have been implemented in a bid to boost the domestic spending and confidence.

The government expects that the country's gross domestic product for 2009 will grow at least 2 percent, with the unemployed is estimated to be up to 2.5 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2009)