‘Pichai’ showcases 10 strategic trade-export visions to revive the Thai economy on the stage of a major seminar of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, preparing to discuss with the Bank of Thailand to take care of the strong baht. The Thai Chamber of Commerce urges the government to protect Thai products, expecting that money to help vulnerable groups will stimulate GDP by 0.2 – 0.3%.
Mr. Pichai Naripthaphan, Minister of Commerce, presided over the presentation of 40 plaques of Outstanding Trade Associations of 2024 to honor trade associations and trade association executives with outstanding performance, and delivered a special speech on ‘Thailand’s Trade and Export Strategy’ at the 2024 Thai Chamber of Commerce Grand Seminar last night (September 16).
Mr. Pichai said that today the world is changing very fast. We have to adapt to the changes in the world. There are many things to be careful about, such as 1. Misuse of AI systems 2. Extreme and rapidly changing weather conditions 3. World polarization, such as
Russia-Ukraine 4. Cyber Security, which is becoming more of a problem 5. Wider international conflicts 6. Economic opportunities. The government must help people not die of poverty. We must give people economic opportunities 7. Inflation 8. Forced migration 9. The sluggish economy. This year, the world economy is not doing well. The average global growth is 2%. We have to make the Thai economy grow in line with the world economy. And 10. Pollution
He announced the direction and policies of the Ministry of Commerce through the framework of 10 important policies to help restore the Thai economy, including policies to reduce expenses, increase income, manage to create a balance between consumers, farmers and entrepreneurs, work proactively, connect products to the world market, solve limitations and improve outdated laws, and quickly resolve obstacles, especially online trade that continues to grow, jointly drive grassroots economic policies, quickly push exports to increase the figures from the first 7-8 month
s, exports grew by 3.8%, but how to expand the growth?, accelerate FTA negotiations, cooperate with Thai businessmen to expand abroad, adjust the export structure to be modern, such as PCB (electronic circuit boards) must be accelerated, last year there was an investment of more than 150,000 million baht, promote environmentally friendly products, promote the carbon credit trading market.
‘On September 25-29, there will be the International Live Commerce Expo 2024, bringing influencers from China to live-sell Thai products. In terms of trade with China, we will cooperate. Selling products must have standards, TIS, FDA. We must do good to every country, so that there will be a lot of investment from China and America in Thailand. And with India, it is an opportunity for trade and investment,’ said Mr. Pichai.
Previously, Mr. Pichai stated that he was preparing to meet with Mr. Sethaput Suthiwatanaruput, Governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), regarding interest rate cuts due to lower inflation and the US Fed
eral Reserve (Fed) preparing to cut interest rates, managing the baht that has appreciated rapidly to 33 baht/dollar, appreciating 5-6% within a month, which has had a significant impact on exporters, and increasing liquidity into the economic system. As for the baht, it weakened this morning to around 33.28-33.30 baht per US dollar after yesterday, the baht hit its strongest level in 19 months at 33.16 baht per dollar. The market is waiting to see the outcome of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting this week, expecting whether or not it will cut interest rates.
Mr. Sanan Angubolkul, President of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said that he agreed with the government’s 10 policies and had additional perspectives to accelerate the recovery of the Thai economy in the short term by accelerating the disbursement of the budget for 2024 and 2025 to be distributed to all regions. He also agreed with the government’s clarity on vulnerable groups that it should be immediately distributed within September 2024, with an
estimated budget of approximately 145 billion baht. Domestically produced products should benefit more, so it is initially estimated that this money will help increase GDP by another 0.2-0.3%.
In addition, we must urgently resolve the problem of substandard products flooding into the Thai market. We must discuss with the Chinese government to control the product standards to meet the Thai standards, including TIS and FDA. Meanwhile, the Customs Department must strictly inspect and intercept imported products from abroad in detail. There are measures that require foreign online trading platforms to pay both VAT and income tax (from sales, not profits) in order to be able to collect income for the government as it should be. The inspection of the use of foreign payment systems, which in the past have flowed a large amount of money out of the country from foreign payment systems, must be put into the correct system and under the supervision of the Bank of Thailand, including promoting the use of local parts or
Local Content of Thailand.
Source: Thai News Agency