BOT:Baht depreciation boosts competitiveness of Thai exports

BANGKOK, May 28 (TNA) - Tha Bank of Thailand (BOT) says that the depreciation of the Thai baht currently helps raise not only competitiveness of Thai exports in terms of prices, but also revenues of Thai exporters. BOT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told journalists of the prospect on Thursday, acknowledging, however, that a key factor which affects Thai exports is actually economic conditions of trading partners. The BOT governor assured that Thailand will not enter a currency war with a quantitative easing policy like Japan, the United States and European countries. The central bank governor noted that the world economy will take time for recovery, projecting that the Thai economy should, thus, slightly grow in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, who supervises economic affairs, pointed out that the current baht depreciation has slowed down Thailand's export decline rate to 1.7 per cent last month, from a shrink of 4 per cent in the first three months of this year. According to the deputy prime minister, the Thai currency has not depreciated too fast and should be further weaker when compared with the currencies of neighboring countries. Earlier this week, Somkiat Triratpan, Director of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, under the Thai Ministry of Commerce, reported that Thailand recorded a trade surplus of 906 million US dollars in the first four months of this year, predicting that the value of Thai exports may reach 20 billion baht a month and it may, thus, grow by 1.2 per cent year-on-year on average this year, as targeted. (TNA)