Thailand’s retail and wholesale industry should prepare for a slowing growth rate in the year ahead as consumer spending power weakens.

The warning comes from the Thai Retailers Association (TRA) which predicts that this year’s retail and wholesale industry will grow by just nine per cent, below the healthy 12 per cent of last year.

Thailand had seen its retail and wholesale industry grew nine per cent during the first half and TRA president Busaba Chirathivat said the growth is likely to be the same in the second half of the year.

She said the retail business lost more than 120 billion baht in consumption value in the first half or one to two per cent of the country’s GDP.

With Thai economy expected to decline in the second half, TRA sees consumer spending to soften.

The slowdown in the industry will highly affect the department stores, convenience chains and supermarkets, says TRA.