The Ministry of Commerce will not revise its 2012 export growth projection of 15 per cent even though exports in the first half of the year were below expectation, Deputy Commerce Minister Phum Sarapol said on Wednesday.
The minister admitted the continuing global economic slowdown has hurt the export sector.
Mr Phum said in order to achieve the set export growth target, his ministry would support Thai exporters, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in increasing exports in the second half of the year.
Special working teams comprising representatives from both the public and private sectors would be set up at all levels to find ways to sell more Thai products, he added.
The ministry would also ease export regulations to facilitate exports and coordinate with financial institutions to ensure the SMEs had good access to funding sources, he said.
“There are several months left for the ministry to work on achieving the 15 per cent export growth target this year. However, the negative factors hurting the export sector are external and the government can only come up with measures to minimise their impact,” Mr Phum said.
Nantawan Sakuntanak, director general of the Export Promotion Department, said the export problem this year was caused by the decline in global demand.
Exports information from neighbouring countries in Asean showed that their exports had also dropped.
This reflected the fact that the global economy was in a recession, due to the eurozone debt crisis, the fragile US economy and the slow recovery in Japan, she said.
Mrs Nantawan said special working groups of her department were studying the problems of four major export businesses -- textiles, food, agriculture and jewellery -- with the aim of finding suitable ways out.
The final proposed solutions for these key industries would be forwarded to the prime minister for consideration and for the government to come up with a policy to support exporters and to boost exports in the second half of the year, she said.