TMB to revise Thailand’s exports for 2016

BANGKOK, Feb 27 (TNA) -- After a sharp decline in Thailand’s exports in January, the TMB Bank says the bank would have to revise its earlier projection on exports if they suffer contraction in February. Benjarong Suwankiri, Head of TMB Analytics, said the government has to have a clear economic policy on which is most important as it seems to focus on boosting local consumption rather than stimulating the country’s exports. If the government wants to boost exports, it has to cooperate with the private sector in expanding oversea markets as China’s economy is still sluggish while Thailand is facing severe drought problem which could affect agricultural products and local purchasing power, said Mr Benjarong. TMB Bank is now considering Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) and export figures after the bank earlier projected that GDP would this year grow 3.5 per cent and exports expanded 1.8 per cent due to several risk factors, especially on January’s exports which declined 8.9 per cent year-on-year, exceeding the bank’s projection at contraction of 6.9 per cent, he said. It would be difficult for Thailand to see exports in black if February’s exports still contracted again, he said. Win Phromphaet, Chief Investment Officer at CIMB-Principal Asset Management, said the world is worried on small energy firms which might go bankrupt as they refuse to settle their debts and this might affect between 10 – 15 creditor banks and eventually lead to higher yields on bonds. The market would be severely impacted if there is a plenty of sale on bonds, Mr Win added. (TNA)