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Thai officials in EU told to monitor markets The Commerce Ministry has instructed its trade official in the European Union to monitor the impact of Greece's debt problems closely as they could affect Thai exports.
Duangkamol Jiambutr, spokeswoman for the ministry, said Thai trade officials were on the alert for Greece’s expected debt default, which has already weakened the euro.
“Inevitably, the prices of Thai goods have risen because of the weakening euro, while worries about a default have affected European consumers, who will buy less and reduce demand for imports,” she said.
She added that Thai exports to the EU would decline this year, though the sector overall might manage to hit the growth target of 1.2 per cent.
In the first five months, the value of exports from Thailand to 15 EU nations contracted 6 per cent year on year to US$8.22 billion (Bt278 billion), while shipments to the other 12 EU member states dropped 15.3 per cent to $826 million. Shipments to the EU account for 10.2 per cent of Thailand’s total export value.
PTT CUTS 2015 BUDGET
PTT announced on Friday that it would cut its investment plan for this year by 28 per cent to reflect changes in global economic conditions.
In a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, state-controlled PTT said it had reassessed its investments, which have been hit by declining oil prices and losses from fuel subsidies. PTT reported its steepest quarterly loss on record in the fourth quarter last year.
Chief executive and president Pailin Chuchottaworn said in a statement that its board of directors approved the reduction in investment from Bt77.28 billion to Bt55.66 billion, mostly on upstream petroleum and natural-gas projects overseas that have no concrete plans yet.
Most pessimistic CFOs
Chief financial officers in Singapore are the most pessimistic group in the Asia-Pacific region, with only 37 per cent expecting profits to rise this year compared with the regional average of 73 per cent, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch “2015 CFO Outlook Asia” survey.
In the survey of CFOs across the region, 53 per cent of those in Singapore said they expected profits to decline during the year, more than double the regional average.
