Thailand to expand its tariff bindings - WTO Secretariat report
27 Nov '07
2 min read
By and large, Thailand's economic fundamentals remain good. Since its previous Trade Policy Review in 2003, despite a series of difficult circumstances, Thailand's real GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 5.7%, largely due to strong growth in exports and domestic consumption, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Thailand.
Nevertheless, a confluence of factors, including increasingly constrained production capacity, has led to a recent slowdown in real GDP growth.
The report notes that a key challenge for Thailand's future economic performance is the Government's ability to restore private investor confidence and to proceed with pending structural reforms, including stalled privatizations, that would help improve the country's competitiveness.
Further trade openness would support Thailand's development plans. To raise the predictability of the trade regime, the report underlines inter alia the need for Thailand to expand its tariff bindings and to simplify its relatively complex tariff regime.
The Services sector, which makes up a large part of the Thai economy, has benefited so far from liberalization but would grow further if multilateral commitments under the GATS were expanded, according to the report.
The WTO Secretariat report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Thailand, will be the basis for the fifth TPR of Thailand by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 26 and 28 of November 2007.
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