BANGKOK, Feb 3 — Thailand's Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking doubts the country can realize its export growth target of 3.5-4 per cent this year due to the baht appreciation and global economic uncertainty.
Supant Mongkolsuthee, committee chair, said that the doubt was based on world economic fluctuation and the baht appreciation in comparison to competitors currencies in global markets.
Board of Trade chairman Isara Vongkusolkij said that next Wednesday the Thai Chamber of Commerce will ask the Bank of Thailand to keep the value of baht promising for Thai exports.
Mr Isara said that Thai tourism should be monitored in the next few months as the number of Russian tourists visiting the country might drop from 1.6 million to 1.1-1.2 million this year due to the ruble depreciation. Besides, oil prices starting to rebound might reduce the number of European visitors, he said.
However, the strong renminbi should increase the number of Chinese tourists while more visitors from neighboring countries are arriving for medical tourism packages, he said. (MCOT online news)
