Sluggish exports in the first two months have prompted Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak to order the Commerce Ministry to help rev up local economic development schemes to stimulate domestic consumption and draw more foreign tourists to offset lower export prospects.
Mr Somkid, who called a joint meeting with the Commerce Ministry's senior officials on Thursday, said local economic development needs to be beefed up over the next 2-3 months to shore up economic growth while the country waits for a new government to form.
"The ministry needs to work more closely with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote local community markets and find local products in major and secondary provinces to serve 40 million foreign tourists this year," he said. "The ministry should partner with local producers and create a marketing plan and selling points for local products to cater to tourist demand. The online platform should be applied towards increasing sales volume."
Mr Somkid is scheduled to meet today with the TAT and Business Development Department to discuss how to create brands for Thai products, especially at tourist destinations.
For the first two months of 2019, Thai exports registered 0.16% growth on the same period last year, fetching US$40.54 billion.
Imports for the same period rose by 2.2% year-on-year to $40.54 billion.
According to Commerce Ministry data, shipments to almost all markets in the first two months, except for the US and CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam), were in the red. Shipments to the US market for the two-month period grew 51.8% year-on-year to $6.37 billion, while those to the CLMV inched up 0.1% to $4.30 billion.
Sluggish export performance in the first two months was one factor in the Bank of Thailand slashing its payment-based export growth forecast for 2019 to 3% from the 7% previously predicted. The central bank lowered its GDP growth view to 3.8% from 4.1%.
On Tuesday, the Thai National Shippers' Council (TNSC) cut its own export growth forecast to 3% this year from the previous 5%, citing the global economic slowdown, the Brexit impasse and the trade row between the world's two biggest economies.
The council also raised a possible hike in the daily minimum wage as a key area of concern for exporters.
If the next government raises the daily minimum wage to 400 baht a day as pledged, without labourers upgrading their skills, the country's export prospects will face added risk because production costs for local manufacturers and exporters will increase, said Ghanyapad Tantipipatpong, chairwoman of the TNSC.
Higher wages may prompt some private companies to relocate their factories to neighbouring countries, Ms Ghanyapad said.