Krirk-krai still bullish
Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet said yesterday the increased political tensions had not yet hurt the country's export engine, which was crucial to economic growth.
"Export growth in the first four months of this year remained strong, underlining the fact that foreign buyers were not worried by domestic politics."We're confident the 2007 export growth rate will be on target, up 10-12.5 per cent from the previous year, bringing in about US$140 billion [Bt4.83 trillion] in export earnings," he said. Meanwhile, Kasikorn Research Centre said bearish sentiment caused by political uncertainty would likely dominate the Stock Exchange of Thailand next week. Wednesday's verdict on the fate of the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties will greatly influence the market's direction for the rest of the week. The SET closed down 1.32 per cent last week at 719.14 on volume of Bt76.8 billion, down 2.93 per cent from the previous week. The markets will also wait for key economic indicators for April to be released by the Bank of Thailand on Wednesday, while the Commerce Ministry will release the latest consumer-price-index figures on Friday.
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