On March 5, 2019, Ms. Kanyapak Tantipiphatpong, President of the Thai National Shippers' Council (TNSC), along with her management team and working group, met with Mr. Veerathai Santiprabhob, Governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), to discuss ways to address the impacts on the economy and the import-export business due to the strengthening of the Thai baht this year, as well as strategies for managing the exchange rate.

“TNSC has requested that the BOT manage the baht to move in line with the regional currencies. However, if it depreciates more than the region, it will alleviate concerns for Thai exporters and help them manage costs more easily,” said Ms. Kanyapak.

Nevertheless, she acknowledged that the baht has been volatile this year due to fluctuations in the US dollar, which has both strengthened and weakened amid the ongoing trade war between the US and China, creating uncertainty that has negatively impacted Thai exports since November 2018, leading to continuous negative growth. There are concerns that exports this year will grow below the 5% forecasted by TNSC. They will need to assess the export figures for the first quarter before making any adjustments, but they aim to avoid negative growth and will revisit the export targets for Thailand later this year.

Additionally, TNSC acknowledged that the baht has changed rapidly since the beginning of the year but remains within acceptable limits, as the focus should be on long-term trends rather than short-term fluctuations. After receiving information from the BOT, they understood that the BOT is managing multiple sectors and will emphasize to members the use of risk hedging tools and conducting transactions in local currencies to mitigate the impacts of US dollar volatility. Currently, the BOT allows international trade in four local currencies: the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, Indonesian rupiah, and Malaysian ringgit. They also wish to see ASEAN countries trade in their own currencies, as exports to ASEAN account for nearly 25% of total exports.

 

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