May 20, 2011
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand posted a trade deficit in April as a shortage of auto parts from disaster-hit Japan contributed to a slowdown in exports, government data showed Friday.
Exports totalled $17.6 billion in the month -- up almost 25 percent from a year earlier but far below March's record high of $21.3 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Imports grew roughly 28 percent year-on-year to $18.4 billion, leaving the country with a trade deficit of $796.5 million, much bigger than a shortfall of $266.2 million seen the previous April.
In March of this year the country logged a trade surplus of $2.7 billion.
"We imported more fuel and machinery while auto exports fell 5.4 percent due to a shortage of parts from Japan," said Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai.
Japanese car giant Toyota has temporarily slashed production at its plants in Thailand because of a shortage of components in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami that battered Japan's northeast coast in March.
But Porntiva voiced confidence that the government's forecast for export growth of between 12 and 15 percent for the whole of this year would be achieved.
The Thai economy returned to growth in the fourth quarter of 2010 on the back of its solid exports and private consumption, snapping out of a brief technical recession. First-quarter growth figures are due out on Monday.
The kingdom raised its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time in less than a year in April, in an attempt to curb inflation in the face of higher commodity prices.
