Govt to revise down export target
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AFTER MANY agencies issued low export expansion forecasts, the Commerce Ministry was finally convinced that it needs to downgrade its target for this year's shipments soon. "The target of 3.5 per cent will be revised down, as many negative factors have d
“The ministry will also draw up plans to promote more exports next year,” permanent secretary Chutima Bunyapraphasara said yesterday.
The new export goal will be set by Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikalya, who, after his recent appointment by the junta, is scheduled to report to the ministry soon.
The ministry will soon call a meeting of Thai trade officials posted overseas and export-related companies to evaluate the trading situation worldwide after the global economy seemed to show signs of slowing growth and caused difficulty in boosting exports.
A study by the International Trade Promotion Department has found that Thailand has a high possibility of increasing exports by only 1.6-1.9 per cent this year because of falling prices of farm crops and weak demand in many key markets.
Shipments in the first seven months shrank 0.42 per cent year on year.
Regarding the Ebola outbreak in Africa, Chutima said the ministry had not yet received reports about any problems supplying countries in that region.
However, the ministry will closely monitor the situation and may need to delay its plan to go on a roadshow to that continent.
Urgent plans
The ministry will propose three urgent plans to its new minister.
The first is to manage the cost of living for consumers, while not intervening in the market mechanism.
Boonyarit Kalayanamit, spokesman for the ministry, said the ministry would also proceed with plans to drive business expansion after the Asean Economic Community comes on stream.
It will provide measures to facilitate Thai businesses, specially small and medium-sized enterprises, in becoming international traders.
It will also ensure that the country is competitive after Asean integration.
The ministry will develop its organisational structure to be more flexible in a bid to reduce duplication of work and enhance efficiency.
Other plans include continuing to negotiate free-trade agreements, managing farm crops, including rice, stabilising prices and improving transparency by adopting new technology for the ministry’s services.
