BANGKOK, 8 July 2015, The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) has decreased its projection for this year’s economic growth to 3 percent from 3.5 percent previously.
President of JSCCIB Boontak Wangcharoen said that the nation’s export sector would likely contract 2 percent in 2015. Earlier it expected the sector would grow less than one percent. He said the local and global economic slowdowns are the major reasons behind the contractions. Other factors attributed to the revised forecast include the unclear government investment plan and the declining consumer and industrial confidence indexes.
The JSCCIB president said Greece’s financial crisis only affects the baht currency in a short term, as trade between the two countries is minimal with Thai exports to Greece accounting for 0.1 percent of the total exports. In addition, the average number of Greek tourists is equivalent to 0.8 percent of the total number of all foreign travelers visiting Thailand yearly.
Regarding the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing issue, the JSCCIB indicated that fishing operators from the nation’s 22 coastal provinces claimed that they could now catch up with most of the European Union’s regulations, except for a few time-consuming issues. They urged the government to expedite the registration of fishing vessels and the issuance of fishing permits.
