BANGKOK: Thailand’s exports are expected to grow 1-2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as global demand improves, a group of shipping firms said on Thursday.
Exports in March are expected to be stronger than in the previous month and close to those of last March, the Thai National Shippers Council said in a statement.
Shipments were worth $18.47 billion in February this year and $19.12 billion in March 2016, customs data showed. In the January-February period, exports increased 2.5 percent from a year earlier.
The council said it was sticking to its export growth forecast of 2-3 percent in the whole of 2017. On Wednesday, the central bank raised its export outlook to a 2.2 percent rise this year from no growth. Exports, a traditional driver of Thai growth, rose slightly in 2016 after three years of contraction.