Thai exports likely to grow by 8% in 2018

BANGKOK, April 23 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce has projected that Thai exports should further expand by 8 per cent year-on-year in 2018, as tit-for-tat trade protectionist measures between the immense US and Chinese economies are unlikely to seriously affect the Thai economy. Pimchanok Vonkorpon, Director-General of the ministry's Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO), voiced the projection on Monday, following Thailand's export growth of 11.29 per cent in the first quarter of this year, totally worth about 62.83 billion US dollars, when compared with the country's export growth in the corresponding period last year. Pimchanok attributed Thailand's continual export growth mainly to the steady recovery of the world trade, which has particularly boosted the country's exports of such industrial products as hard disks and other parts and accessories of computer sets, as well as farm and processed farm products, namely rice, tapioca and frozen and processed poultry despite retaliating trade protectionist measures between the United States and China. Pimchanok pointed out that Thai exports last month alone hit a historic high of about 22.36 billion US dollars, or an about 7.06 per cent year-on-year expansion. The senior Thai official, thus, expressed her confidence that Thailand's exports should grow by 8 per cent year-on-year on average in 2018 as targeted, as the country's shipments of products to the world market during the remaining of this year are expected to stand at least about 21 billion US dollars monthly. Meanwhile, the Government Savings Bank (GSB) forecast that the Thai economy should grow by 4.2 per cent year-on-year on average in 2018, from 3.9 per cent year-on-year in 2017, cushioned by the country's expanding exports, tourism and domestic consumption, as well as the government's spending on mega-investment projects and economic stimulus measures for the grassroots, together with the growing world economy. GSB, however, cautioned that there are remaining risk factors against the national economic growth this year, including impacts from the uncertainty of Thailand's next general election, high debts of local households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), US trade protectionist measures, tougher financial policies of major global economies and geo-political tensions in many global areas. (TNA)