TNSC:Thai exports keep growing amid stronger baht

BANGKOK, January 12 (TNA) - The Thai National Shippers Council (TNSC) has projected that the country's exports should continue to grow by 5.5 per cent year-on-year in 2018, totally worth about 231 billion US dollars, despite the stronger Thai baht. TNSC Chairwoman Ghayapad Tantipipatpong, told journalists of the projection on Friday, after leading a group of Thai exporters to meet with Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob at the central bank head office in Bangkok to discuss the future trend of the Thai currency. Ghayapad said the nearly two-hour discussions with the BOT governor came out that the Thai exporters have understood well the ongoing appreciation of the Thai baht, probably to 32-31 baht a US dollar in the near future, has been mainly caused by a 10-per cent depreciation of the greenback and a surplus of Thailand's current account consequently. Ghayapad revealed that as the Thai baht has been strengthening, boosted by the country's growing exports expected by further 5.5 per cent year-on-year this year, the BOT governor suggested that local exporters resort to the FX Options mechanism, in which they are allowed to buy a legal right on fixing, at a certain level, the foreign exchange rates in advance to prevent or ease their risks caused by the strengthening Thai currency. According to the TNSC chief, there are only about 200 Thai small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), out of a total of about 17,000 of them, have already utilized the FX Options mechanism and TNSC will, thus, work together with the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (OSMEP) and the Thai Bankers Association to promote and support more Thai SMEs to utilize the mechanism. Besides, the BOT governor suggested that Thai exporters import more law materials and capital goods for their expanding production and exports, instead, currently, as the stronger Thai baht will cut their importing costs, and turn to use local currencies, namely the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan and the Euro of the European Union (EU), for their trading, rather than the US dollar traditionally. (TNA)