FILE PHOTO: A shipping container is lifted from a truck to load onto a ship at a port in Bangkok, Thailand, March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo
April 20, 2018
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s customs-cleared annual exports likely rose again in March but at a slower pace than in the previous month, a Reuters poll showed, partly due to a high comparative base last year.
The poll’s median forecast was a for exports to grow 8.0 percent in March from a year earlier.
Exports, a key driver of economic growth in Thailand, rose 10.3 percent on year in February.
The commerce ministry is targeting an export growth of 8 percent this year, after a 9.9 percent increase in 2017, despite a strong baht <THB=TH>.
Imports in March may have risen 11.6 percent from a year earlier, after jumping 16.0 percent in February, the poll showed.
Thailand likely recorded a trade surplus of $700 million in March, according to the poll, following a surplus of $808 million in February.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Chinthathip Nanthavong; Editing by Sunil Nair)
