Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai said on Thursday that she would seek a discussion with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for additional budget to promote exports, citing that the allocation of Bt1 billion this week is earmarked mostly to reduce the public's cost of living.

The ministry asked for a total of Bt10 billion, including Bt3 billion to promote exports. She admitted that it would be difficult, without the budget, to boost the export growth to 3 per cent in 2009.

 "Still, we're doing our best on expectation that the economic stimulus measures would encourage higher spending and manufacturing orders in the latter half," she said.

The ministry had sought Bt12 billion from the overall Bt116-billion supplementary budget aimed at stimulating economic growth.

 The low allocation will present difficulties for the ministry's efforts to drive export growth and boost domestic expansion, as it is the major agency responsible for boosting the Kingdom's economy.

 The ministry had asked for Bt3 billion in funding from the supplementary budget to promote exports through marketing activities and roadshows, plus another Bt9 billion to stimulate domestic spending.

The Commerce Ministry has revised its 2009 export-growth target to 3 per cent, for a total of US$184.7 billion (Bt6.43 trillion). This is in contrast with many predictions that exports this year will drop or face flat growth following the world's economic meltdown.

It is confident that if the Cabinet were to approve an additional budget and bank on the effectiveness of five newly launched measures to drive the sector, exports could achieve the new target.

The five measures will focus on export promotion, business liquidity, marketing, image and advertising and supplementary measures to abate falling orders.

Moreover, the ministry requires an additional Bt9 billion to boost farm sector incomes amidst falling agricultural prices.

Of the total budget at its disposal, Bt10 billion will be set aside for the operating costs of the pledging programme for 11 products: rice, maize, palm fruit, tapioca, rubber, sugar cane, eggs, chicken, pork, shrimp and fruits.

The ministry also has plans to drive domestic spending by organising more than 1,000 trade shows around the country.

However, Deputy Commerce Ministry Alongkorn Pollabutr said that despite the difficulty of achieving so many tasks with a limit budget, the ministry would do its best to accomplish export growth and solve the problem of slower domestic growth.

He said the ministry would pool its resources, reduce any overlaps and then allocate budgets to achieve the targets in terms of boosting exports, the domestic economy and solving the rising numbers of unemployed.
On budget allocation, the ministry will soon call a meeting with senior officials in order to increase spending efficiency across the many tasks.

Pornsilp Patcharintanakul, deputy secretary-general to the Board of Trade of Thailand, said the government must set priorities for increasing efficiency in boosting economic growth with a limit budget.

"Two major tasks for the ministry are to drive export growth, which is highly likely to drop this year, and boost local spending," said Pornsilp.

For the former, he suggested the ministry focus on conducting roadshows and promoting exports to new potential markets in Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe countries, as these areas have faced a lower impact from the slowing world economy.

The ministry must also consult with the private sector to select only high-efficiency businesses to participate in the roadshows, given the budgetary limitations.

In order to boost local spending, Pornsilp suggested the ministry join hands with consumer-goods manufacturers to produce low-price essential items, which would reduce the cost-of-living burden.

Pornsilp disagreed with the government's plan to sell low-price goods to the market, as this could damage the interests of enterprises. Instead, he said the government should cooperate with manufacturers to produce house-brand goods, thus adding to choices for low-income people.

Moreover, in order to solve the problem of rising unemployment, he advised the ministry to cooperate with the Labour Ministry rather than pursue its own measures with a limited budget.

Source: The Nation