NIDA:US, China are likely to reach compromised trade deal

BANGKOK, December 24 (TNA) - The Bangkok-based National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) says it is likely that the United States and China should finally reach a compromised trade deal in 2019, resulting in a turnaround of the world trade to the sound prospect. Prof. Dr. Montree Socatiyanurak, Director of NIDA's Advance Master Managent (AMM) Program, made the remarks on Monday, assessing that a failure of US President Donald Trump's Republican Party to control the majority vote in the Congress after the recent mid-term election should lead to the compromised trade agreement between Washington and Beijing and then relieve the tension of the ongoing trade war between the two major trading partners. Prof. Dr. Montree foresaw if the US-China comprosided trade deal could be concluded and the sound prospect of the world trade would come back consequently, they could stimulate Thai expports to then grow by about 6 per cent year-on-year in 2019. In 2018, the NIDA senior academic projected that Thai exports should expand by about 8 per cent year-on-year, boosted mainly by the country's shipments of goods to other member countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). According to the NIDA senior academic, Thailand's key interest rate should further rise to 2.00-2.25 per cent in the coming months, from 1.75 per cent currently, while the Thai currency should stand around 31-33 baht a US dollar next year when the country's inflation should stand at about 1.5 per cent. (TNA)