Illustrative image (Source: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai government has pledged to give new measures to spur exports and promote investment either later this month or early next month.
Local media on August 19 quoted Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general for political affairs to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, as saying that the next meeting of the economic ministers will focus on measures to promote exports and investment.
The government aims to stimulate exports to grow by 3 percent in the second half of this year, with next year's growth set at 3.5 percent, he said.
But, he said that the entire year's export figures are highly likely to decline.
Thailand's exports dropped for the fourth straight month in June, attributed to weak global demand because of the global economic slowdown, ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, and lower oil prices.
The Commerce Ministry reported that customs-cleared outbound shipments remained in the red, down 2.2 percent year-on-year in June to 21.4 billion USD after contracting by 5.8 percent in May, 2.6 percent in April and 4.9 percent in March.
Exports to most markets continued to ebb, with shipments to China falling 14.9 percent in June from a year earlier, while those to the US were down 2.1 percent.
For the first six months, overall shipments dipped 2.9 percent from the same period last year to 113 billion USD.
Kobsak said the stimulus measures are likely to include closer cooperation between state agencies and the private sector to drive the shipments of product items that are subject to higher tariffs both in the US and China.
The government will also support and promote entrepreneurs affected by the trade war to sell their products at home and other markets while helping cut the costs of exporters.
In the first half this year, three items that saw export expansion both in the US and China market were leather products, shoes and wooden products.-VNA
VNA
