Commerce Ministry puts 2022 export growth at 3-4%

The Commerce Ministry has set the export growth target at only 3-4% for next year, slightly lower than projections by private organisations, citing a spate of persistent risk factors such as prolonged Covid-19 outbreaks, stiffer measures for public health and the environment and a shortage of labour and semiconductors.

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the 3-4% growth target for next year from an estimated US$268.3 billion this year, up 16% from a year before, is based on a warning by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that a renewed wave of the pandemic threatens to add to the existing pressure on the world economy from persistently high levels of inflation.

The…