The Thai Commerce Ministry has admitted that the country many fail to
meet its export growth target of 3.5 percent this year, as exports
during August slumped to the lowest level in three years.
Director-General
of the Department of Internal Trade Nantawan Sakuntanaga revealed that
exports in August were valued at 18.943 billion USD, 7.4 percent lower
than that of the same period last year. The figure marked a contraction
in exports for the second consecutive month and the lowest in 32 months
since December 2011 due to an unstable recovery of the world economy.
The
economic uncertainties also led to a decline in gold investments. Gold
exports dropped to 92.9 percent to 72 million USD in comparison to 2
billion USD in the same month of 2013.
Furthermore, petroleum
and industrial product exports continued to shrink by 16.1 percent and
8.7 percent, respectively, making the total export value in the past
eight months down 1.36 percent.
The ministry plans a meeting
with commercial diplomats and members of the private sector on October
18 to assess the situation and discuss measures to expand trade.-VNA