The economy is strong enough to withstand the impact from continuous volatility in the global financial and capital markets because of the country's limited exposure to foreign-denominated debt, says the Bank of Thailand.
"For the macroeconomic view of Thailand, we do not have to worry because we have several buffers on the external front. Many emerging-market countries are more sensitive towards [developments in] the global financial and capital markets than Thailand due to their reliance on substantial foreign borrowing," said governor Veerathai Santiprabhob.
"We do not have a lot of exposure to foreign borrowing in either the public or private sector."
Thailand's foreign debts stood at US$129 billion or 32% of GDP in last year's final quarter, according to central bank data. Short-term foreign debts were $51.3 billion, with $78.1 billion in long-term foreign debts.
The ratio of foreign holdings of Thai bonds is not high compared with other countries, while liquidity remains at a robust threshold, Mr Veerathai said.
"There is no concern that Thailand will experience a liquidity problem in the case of capital outflows. The Bank of Thailand is managing this issue closely to ensure there is sufficient liquidity in the financial system to facilitate Thailand's economic recovery continuously," he said.
Mr Veerathai said market fluctuation is foreseen due to effects from advanced economies' monetary policies, particularly the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
Despite financial markets expecting the Fed to further normalise its funds rate in June, such a move will depend on economic conditions and data in the US, he said, citing the Fed statement and its data-dependent stance.
Mr Veerathai said April's export contraction was not surprising as this year's export outlook remained challenging, while there were several temporary factors in the first four months that affected exports, such as oil prices, gold demand, restructuring of the car industry and last month's holidays prompting pre-ordering of goods before a short-term halt in production, he said.
He said greater emphasis should be placed Thailand's export structure in the long run as opposed to merely focusing on April's figures.
The baht's value has moved in line with regional currencies, Mr Veerathai said.
The central bank forecasts this year's exports will contract by 2% based on projected GDP growth of 3.1%.
The Commerce Ministry reported that exports fell 8% year-on-year in April to $15.5 billion, with imports plunging 14.9% to $14.8 billion. In March, shipments rose 1.3% following February's 10.3% increase. Both increases were driven by gold and special items of hardware for military exercises.
Separately, the Chinese central bank's move to lower the yuan's fixing rate has not affected regional currencies significantly and currency movement is mainly influenced by the Fed's expected rate increase, said Chantavarn Sucharitakul, the Bank of Thailand's assistant governor overseeing financial market operations.
The People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.5552 per dollar prior to the market opening, 0.22% firmer than the previous 6.5693.
The move is in line with the weakening trend of regional currencies and the offshore yuan on the back of the strengthening dollar swayed by investors' expectations of an imminent rate increase by the Fed, Mrs Chantavarn said.
A recent acceleration in the yuan's weakening could be because the currency had not recorded a substantial depreciation compared with other regional currencies as Chinese authorities have been stabilising the market to prevent volatility, she said.