Thai exports up 17.5%, imports rise 40.7%

[Ulhas Joglekar]

24 December 1999
Thai exports up 17.5%, imports rise 40.7%
BANGKOK, Thailand: The Finance Ministry announced Thursday that Thailand
exported $5.35 billion worth of goods in November, up 17.5 percent from the
same month in 1998, and imported $4.78 billion, up 40.7 percent.
The figures confirmed that an export surge since early this year is helping
lift the country out of deep economic crisis since mid-1997 and indicated
that businesses are restocking equipment. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister
Supachai Panitchpakdi said the baht may fluctuate against the US dollar next
year, as economic growth tends to strengthen the currency.
But repayment of foreign debt and a narrowing trade surplus -- expected to
halve from $10 billion this year -- will cut into the currency's strength,
Supachai told a seminar.
The currency has been relatively stable in 1999, ranging between 36 and 39
to the dollar, following a plunge from 25 to the dollar to 55 in the six
months after the Asian economic crisis erupted in July 1997.
Supachai, who is also Thailand's commerce minister and will take over as
head of the World Trade Organization in 2002, said exports are expected to
expand by up to 6 percent next year, in line with growth in global export
markets and a stable domestic interest rate environment.
Interest rates should rise no more than 0.5 percentage points next year,
because inflation is expected to be very low, probably no more ts export
target for next year is $62 billion, but imports will rise faster than
exports as demand increases with growth in the domestic economy. (Associated

 Press)
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Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 1999.