FATF blacklist unlikely to affect Thai exports

The Thai Ministry of Commerce said today although the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put Thailand on its blacklist for substandard operations against money laundering, it should not affect the country's export growth target of at least 15 per cent this year. Wuthichai Duangrat, Deputy Director-General of the ministry's Department of Export Promotion, told a seminar on marketing campaigns in China and Vietnam in Bangkok Wednesday that the FATF blacklist has some initial impacts on Thailand's image but it will certainly not affect Thai exports, because the country's systems for orders and payments have met international standards and have been under a strict supervision of the Bank of Thailand (BOT); therefore, it is difficult to launder money through orders for Thai exports. Wuthichai assessed that impacts on local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should not be significant either although they may have to deal with more documents their trading partners demand and they need to have their export businesses officially certified by the BOT. The senior official revealed that he has ordered heads of Thai trade offices overseas to study anti-money laundering laws in the countries where they are based so that concerned authorities can prepare necessary documents for Thai exporters, saying that he has also ordered Thai commercial attaches to talk with concerned authorities in other countries to facilitate Thai exports. (TNA)