Aug exports drop 8.2% y/y, trade surplus widens: BoT

Aug exports drop 8.2% y/y, trade surplus widens: BoT

Thailand recorded a current account surplus of $3.0 billion in August, a six-month high, after a revised surplus of $1.74 billion in the previous month, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) said on Wednesday.

Exports, a key driver of growth, declined 8.2% in August from a year earlier after July's 11.9% drop.

The surplus was helped by record gold shipments of $2.8 billion in August, with the trend set to continue until year-end, BoT director Don Nakornthab told a briefing.

Overall exports, a key driver of growth, declined 8.2% in August from a year earlier after July's 11.9% drop.

The economy in August performed better than July by recording smaller falls in exports and industrial manufacturing, the BoT said in a statement.

The economy -- which shrank the most in 22 years in the second quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic impact -- should register growth in the June quarter 2021, Mr Don said.

The BoT has forecast the economy will contract a record 7.8% this year before growing 3.6% next year. 

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