2017年 07月 28日

Thai Economy on Target

Asia Plus Securities believes the Thai economy will expand by 3.5% in 2017 as forecast, after second-quarter growth reached 3.7%, year on year.

There are visible positive signals from private-sector investment, which registered growth for the first time in the last three quarters, Asia Plus said. The export sector also recovered during the last five months, although imports grew at a faster pace than exports, the securities house added.

Meanwhile, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking expects to revise up its full-year forecast for export growth to 4% from the current 3.5-4.0%.

Kalin Sarasin, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, described the lack of a violent confrontation after former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s no-show in court Friday as a good sign that would hopefully let the country continue its recovery and capitalize on the growing global economy.

He said the joint committee is due to have a meeting over the next two weeks and is expected to revise up its Thai 2017 annual export forecast to 4.0%, due to rising demand amid the global economic recovery.

His sentiments were in line with those of the commerce ministry, which is due to revise up its export target to 6.0%-6.5% from the previous view of 5% after export growth hit double digits for five straight months.

Exports in July climbed 10.5% to $18.9 billion (630.5 billion baht), shrugging off the strengthening local currency as demand for Thai goods rose in line with the recovering global economy.

Exports for the first seven months totaled 132.4 billion baht, up 8.2% year-on-year, the highest rate in six years.