Barter trade likely to be axed
The Commerce Ministry will forward to the Cabinet within two weeks a proposal to forget about barter trade after finding that the initiative of the previous government has not proved of much use to the country.
Skol Harnsuthivarin, secretary to Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet, said last week that the ministry had concluded its study on barter trade. Krirk-krai has suggested that a barter-trade agreement is difficult to manage. The government wants to find suitable ways of handling these special government-to-government contracts. Barter trade as a vehicle to pay for imports was touted by the deposed government as opening overseas markets for the country's farm products, saving on foreign exchange and easing trade deficits. "The ministry found that some ambiguous transactions could easily occur during barter trading," Skol said. However, the government will retain the authority to conduct barter trade by considering if a particular pact will really benefit the Kingdom, Skol said. Thailand will honour the agreement if it signs a deal with a partner country, he said. A Foreign Trade Department source said the ministry had not yet entered into a barter-trade commitment with negotiating countries. Three barter-trade pacts are now under negotiation. A Bt15-billion project for China to construct the country's largest tobacco-processing plant in Chiang Mai for the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly will be paid in full with Thai rice. The State Railway of Thailand wants to exchange Thai rice worth Bt700 million from government stockpiles for seven diesel locomotives from China. The Army wants artillery worth Bt800 million from France for Thai rice. The source said the negotiations would be off if the Cabinet decided to cancel barter trade.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
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