UNCTAD:Thailand is on right track toward intra-regional trade

BANGKOK, September 13 (TNA) - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says that Thailand is doing right by now more focusing on intra-regional trade within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Watcharas Leelawath, Deputy Executive Director of the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), told journalists of the UNCTAD's comment on the Thai policy, included in its trade and development report 2013, on Friday, referring to increased Thai exports to ASEAN from 13.8 per cent in 1992 to 25 per cent in 2012. In the report, UNCTAD recommends that developing countries stimulate domestic consumption and promote trade within their groupings, citing, for example, that once the ASEAN Community (AC) is formed by 2015, member countries, including Thailand, will have a huge integrated market with combined consumers of as many as 600 million. The UNCTAD also recommends that global economies now emphasize on their domestic consumption stimulation, rather than considerable dependence on exports, to sustain their economic growth in the long run. Besides, UNCTAD predicts that the overall world economy should grow by 2.2 per cent on average this year, with the economies of developed countries expected to expand by only 1 per cent but those of developing countries by as much as 4.5 per cent. UNCTAD projects in its 2013 report that the economies of Southeast Asian and East Asian countries should expand by even as high as 5.5 per cent this year and should significantly drive the world economy and play more important roles, thanks to their groupings, including ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6. The UNCTAD suggested that, upon a global economic downturn, all countries should not turn to belt-tightening because that may weaken purchasing power and prolong economic recession, but they should, instead, implement monetary and fiscal policies to continually stimulate their national economies, along with boosting investment by their governments and private sector, as well as domestic consumption. The UNCTAD suggests as well that developing countries depend less on capital inflows because they highly fluctuate and create high risks and speculations in financial assets, which may cause economic bubbles and currency appreciation, but they should depend more on domestic funds, improve machines to enhance national productivity and emphasize financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because they employ considerable workers. The UN agency also urges global governments to implement some measures to enable local grass roots to benefit from national economic and trade growth in order to help stimulate domestic consumption in their respective countries. (TNA)