Thailand, Singapore end tax-cut exemption on cars, whiskey

BANGKOK, Jan. 11 Kyodo

Thailand and Singapore have begun cutting tariffs on goods such as cars, beer, whiskey and cigarettes that were once exempted from such cuts under the Southeast Asian free-trade pact, a senior Thai Commerce Ministry official said Thursday.

Boontipa Simaskul, director general of the Commerce Ministry's Business Economics Department, said that since Jan. 1 Singapore has transferred 120 items formerly protected under its general exclusion list onto the inclusion list, slashing their import tariffs to zero.

''Both Thailand and Singapore now have no goods listed on the general exclusion list,'' she said.

Boontipa said among the 120 items, Thailand would mostly benefit from exports of 111, including passenger cars, motorbikes, seasonings, whiskey, beer and petroleum products.

She added that Thai exports of passenger cars and motorbikes to Singapore totaled 550 million baht ($12.79 million) in 1998, 740 million baht in 1999, and more than 1.4 billion baht last year.

Meanwhile, Boontipa said Singapore will benefit from exporting about 100 items which have been removed from Thailand's exclusion list, including alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and tobacco substitutes.

In transferring the items from its general exclusion list, Thailand pledged to slash tariffs to a maximum of 20% and then to a maximum of 5% by 2003. Thailand imposed taxes as high as 60% on some of these items before lifting the tariff restriction.

Thailand and Singapore are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which pledged to create a regional free-trade zone among the 10 member countries by eliminating tariff and nontariff trade barriers.

The six original members of the group -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- have pledged to slash tariffs to 0-5% by 2002.

Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia are being given more time to achieve the target -- 2006 for Vietnam, 2008 for Laos and Myanmar, and 2010 for Cambodia.

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