BANGKOK, 5 July 2012 – The economic Cabinet has been discussing approaches to help exporters handle the fallout of the Eurozone debt crisis and ways to boost Thai tourism revenue.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said that the economic Cabinet meeting on Wednesday looked into the conditions surrounding the Thai export industry amid growing worries about the impact from the debt crisis in Europe.
He said that the meeting has suggested exporters to gear more efforts towards markets without financial or economic problems and to have related state financial institutions provide necessary assistance.
The Deputy PM stated that such approaches are intended to help the government diligently utilize the 140-billion-baht special budget for this cause while preventing any possible problems from the current situation.
Mr. Kittiratt added that the economic Cabinet agreed that 3 product groups need close supervision and they are apparel and textiles, jewelry and accessories, and electronics.
It also suggested that related state agencies will need to discuss with rubber exporters in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to determine acceptable prices in the world market to help Thai producers.
In addition, he stated that the current exchange rate of the Thai currency against the greenback at 31 baht per US dollar is appropriate and doing good to the export industry.
Lastly, the economic Cabinet meeting has affirmed that the government will put more focus on the tourism industry as the country’s major money-spinner. In doing so, it has decided to officially reopen Don Muang Airport for full commercial use on August 1st instead of October 1st as originally planned, in hopes of providing more convenience and boosting confidence among international travelers.
