Thailand's export growth in 2019 depends on shipments of goods till year-end

BANGKOK, April 2 (TNA) - The Thai National Shippers' Council (TNSC) says that the country's export growth in 2019 depends on shipments of Thai goods to the world market later this year. TNSC Chairperson Ghanyapad Tantipipatpong told journalists on Tuesday that Thai exports should grow by 5 per cent year-on-year in 2019 if shipments of goods to foreign markets stood at least 22.80 billion US dollars monthly during the April-December period, but Thai exports should grow by only 3 per cent if shipments of goods to the world market stood at about 22 billion US dollars monthly during the same period. Ghanyapad stated, however, that Thailand's exports in February 2019 contracted by 4.9 per cent year-on-year if shipments of armaments to foreign economies for military exercises were excluded. According to the TNSC chairperson, Thailand's exports should contract by at least 4-5 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019 if the country's exports last month further shrank by 4-5 per cent year-on-year. The TNSC chairperson conceded that like many other agencies, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) has already revised downward its projection of the country's export growth in 2019 to about 3.1 per cent year-on-year on average due to many risk factors, namely impacts from the unsettled trade war between the United States and China, a global economic slowdown and unstable foreign exchange rates, as well as a, probably, new increase in minimum wages in the Thai economy by the country's newly-elected government in the coming months. (TNA)