Central bank says exports to continue their COVID-19 recovery.

Exports, the main piston of Thailand’s economic engine, would continue their recovery from the pandemic-induced global slowdown in trade, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) said after statistics showed exports grew in the final month of 2020.

“Thai exports in almost all categories expanded for the first time in 10 months in December last year. Several export goods expanded either at the same or higher rates than the pre-COVID-19 period,” said Pornpen Sodsrichai, Senior Director of the BoT’s Economic Analysis Office.

Thailand was able to keep its supply chains up and running throughout the pandemic, even as those in some other countries had to shut down for a period. Nonetheless, the drop in global trade made it challenging for the Thai economy.

December 2020 marked the start of a turnaround. The total value of merchandise exports grew by 4.6 percent year-on-year in the final month of the year.

The Bank of Thailand expects that trend to continue. On the basis of improving exports, the Bank is forecasting 3.2 percent economic growth in 2021.

Global demand for electronics and other goods began to revive in December 2020, Pornpen said. Part of the increased demand was driven by the fact that more people were working online from home to protect themselves from COVID-19 infection.

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