FTAs serving Thai interests well, five years of statistics reveal

[webfact]

FTAs serving Thai interests well, five years of statistics reveal

By The Nation

 

Auramon Supthaweethum

 

Thailand’s exports to countries with whom it has free trade agreements (FTAs) has grown by 3.31 per cent on average compared with only 0.75 per cent growth to countries without FTAs from 2014 to 2018, according to Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations.

 

Thailand has signed FTAs with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and Chile besides Asean members.

 

Total trading value with 18 FTA partners in the first 10 months of 2019 amounted to US$253.89 billion or 62.4 per cent of Thailand’s global trading value. Exports amounted to $128.27 billion and imports were worth $125.62 billion.

 

Asean tops the trading list with $90.737 billion, followed by China, $65.15 billion; Japan, $48.73 billion; Australia, $12.22 billion and South Korea, $11.29 billion. 

 

Between January and September 2019, Thailand exported $50.31 billion to FTA partners (78.25 per cent) and imported $27.59 billion (52.25 per cent) from them. The top products are automobiles, spare parts, plastics, appliances and electronic devices.

 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit is pushing for FTAs with Turkey, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2020 to expand Thailand’s markets, decrease trading obstacles and increase competitiveness.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30379643

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-12-20

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[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s exports to countries with whom it has free trade agreements (FTAs) has grown by 3.31 per cent on average compared with only 0.75 per cent growth to countries without FTAs from 2014 to 2018

Yet currently,

 https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1139327-thailand%C2%A0holds-key-rate-cuts-economic-forecasts-as-exports-stumble/?utm_source=newsletter-20191219-0549&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

• Exports, a key driver of economic growth, are now expected to shrink 3.3% this year, compared with a 1% fall seen earlier.
• Next year's exports are expected to rise by a smaller 0.5%, rather than 1.7%.
• The Thai economy would expand below its potential and below the previous forecast, mainly as merchandise exports had contracted more than the previous assessment and were projected to recover more slowly than expected

FTA's are not NOW an export "savior" for Thailand.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

FTA's are not NOW an export "savior" for Thailand.

Neither are imports from those FTA countries considering the huge tariffs most of them attract!

[johng]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Neither are imports from those FTA countries considering the huge tariffs most of them attract!

Yes Thailand seems to think FTA's only apply in one direction...those nasty foreign imports have to be highly taxed !

[30la]

On 12/20/2019 at 3:06 AM, webfact said:

Thailand’s exports to countries with whom it has free trade agreements (FTAs) has grown by 3.31 per cent on average compared with only 0.75 per cent growth to countries without FTAs from 2014 to 2018, according to Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations.

And as always, lies, lies and more lies for a people who are fed up ...