Jurin confident border trade will grow 5-7% this year
Commere Minister Jurin Laksanawisit has said that the world economy and that of neighbouring economies still have opportunities to grow, while the baht’s continued depreciation, as compared to the first half of 2021, will only increase the competitiveness of Thai exports.
He said Thailand can take advantage of the Laos-China train route, and export Thai products via Vientiane to China conveniently.
There are 97 trade checkpoints in border areas, 48 of which have already opened, and 12 more will open this year.
As for the goals of border trade and cross-border trade in 2022, he said after discussions with the private sector, they were aiming for 5-7 per cent growth, with export value in the region of 1.08-1.10 trillion baht.
But there are still two major risk factors: the Covid-19 situation and the Omicron variant, and the political situation in Myanmar, which may affect the number of Thai border exports to Myanmar, especially Myanmar's foreign currency controls to restrict imports and reduce Myanmar's foreign trade deficit problem.
In 2021, border trade and cross-border trade were valued at 1.715 trillion baht, an increase of 30.03 per cent, exports were worth 1.031 trillion baht, an increase of 34.60 per cent, and imports were worth 684.015 billion baht, an increase of 23.70 per cent.
