The report also found 45 per cent were not confident in the state of their personal finances over the next year.

According to Nielsen's twice-yearly Global Consumer Confidence Study, only 35 per cent of Thais believe it is a good time to buy things they want over the next 12 months. Saving for a rainy day continues to be the main priority for 67 per cent of Thai consumers, ranking them No 1 in the world for the third straight round, when they consider what they will do with their spare cash after covering essential living expenses.

"Their strong desire to save for a rainy day may in part be explained by increasing pessimism about job prospects, finances and scepticism about whether now is the right time to buy what they need over the next 12 months," Chantira Luesakul, managing director of ACNielsen (Thailand), said yesterday.

The consumer confidence index for Thailand rose 12 points from 95 in the first half of last year to 107 in the second half, but sharply fell 15 points this round to 92, which is the largest fall in the world.

The survey came amid reported drops in sales of consumer goods and electric appliances. Saha Group, the country's largest consumer goods manufacturer, expects to witness a contraction of 5 per cent in its sales this year - the first in its 60-year history.

Besides savings, vacations (50 per cent), new technology (38 per cent), home improvements (32 per cent) and new clothes (31 per cent) are popular spending options.

Thai consumers also rank among the world's top 10 when it comes to concerns about the economy (59 per cent), politics (46 per cent) and terrorism (19 per cent). Thais expressed the most concern about terrorism in Asia-Pacific, representing an increase by 6 percentage points from the last round.

Global warming is fast emerging as one of the major concerns among the world's consumers, with 16 per cent citing it as a major concern, up from 7 per cent last October. Thais' concern about global warming increased from 12 per cent to 18 per cent.

"The increased media exposure of environmental issues has increased consumer awareness and concern for global warming around the world." Chantira said. "The good news is that Thai consumers expressed more concern about global warming than the Asia-Pacific average of 14 and global average of 16."

The survey, conducted in the last two weeks of April, polled 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America and the Middle East.

The global consumer confidence index measured 97, down slightly by two points.