The Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) at the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that exports value expanded by 2.12 per cent in April.
The market had expected it to contract by at least 3 to 4.6 per cent.
The exports value in April was at US$18.95 billion compared to an imports value of $16.49 billion, representing an import contraction of 17.13 per cent. This created a trade surplus of $2.46 billion.
Between January and April, Thailand’s exports value reached $81.62 billion, denoting an expansion of 1.19 per cent when compared to the same period in 2019.
In contrast, imports value contracted by 5.72 per cent to $75.22 billion. This showed a trade surplus of $6.4 billion during the first four months of 2020.
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) predicted earlier that the Thai economy will go into a recession of 5.3 per cent based on the assumption that exports value will contract by 8.8 per cent and imports value will contract by 15 per cent in 2020.
