Thailands concerns over the rise of the Thai Baht

BANGKOK: -- The Bank of Thailand is widely expected to take action soon to rein appreciation of the baht as its "excessive" gain is having a widespread negative impact on the export sector as well as the government's tax revenue.

 

Bank of Thailand's former chairman says BOT should buy more dollars.

According to this article i found today on Thai Visa Thai's are getting concerned about the continual growing strength of the Thai baht against major currencies. Check out the article below...

Markets are braced for the action. Touching a new 16-year high yesterday with a 0.18 per cent rise from Friday's closing to 25.58 per US dollar, the baht later lost 0.2 per cent to 28.74 at 3.12pm. So far this month, the baht has gained more than 2 per cent against the dollar and 8 per cent over the Japanese yen, making Thai goods more expensive in the countries where trade is denominated in the two currencies.

Pakorn Peetathawatchai, Stock Exchange of Thailand’s executive vice-president, yesterday recommended investors to closely monitor exchange rates, saying that there could be capital controls due to the baht's excessive gain.

"It remains to be seen how the authorities will act to control the hot money. We can't afford to take no action. We have never witnessed the baht appreciate this quickly, or the sharp rise in the stock market like this," Pakorn said.

In the first quarter, the SET index gained 12.15 per cent, making it the world's best-performing market after Vietnam (18.7 per cent), the Philippines (17.1 per cent), Laos (15.9 per cent) and Indonesia (14.5 per cent). Overseas investors bought US$2 billion more Thai sovereign debt than they sold this month through to April 19, adding to net purchases of $9.8 billion in the first quarter.

To stem the baht's appreciation, former Bank of Thailand chairman MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul urged the central bank to buy more dollars, rather than cut the policy rate.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar yesterday, Chatu Mongol said that it is necessary to take care of the export sector, which is suffering acutely. He said he understood that financial stability is the BOT's priority, but it should also pay attention to economic progress.

He noted that heavier sterilisation - the buying of US dollars to depress the baht's price - would boost the BOT's accounting loss, but said that's just a figure. China's central bank has also accumulated more than $3 trillion in foreign currencies to stabilise the yuan. With reserves of more than $200 million - 60 per cent of gross national product (GNP), the BOT has the capacity to strengthen its sterilisation efforts, Chatu Mongol said.

He strongly opposed a cut in the policy rate, as suggested by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong and exporters, saying that could spur consumption and hence inflation.

"It's better for the central bank to shoulder the sterilisation cost than to cut the rate, as higher inflation would affect the entire country," he said.

Foreseeing continued inflows of foreign capital, he noted that it was time to allocate some foreign reserves to finance a sovereign wealth fund, as the fund's overseas investment would counter capital inflows.

Hurting revenues:

While saying that the baht's rise is too fast, Paiboon Kittisrikangwan, an assistant governor of the Bank of Thailand, was adamant that BOT had policy options in hand. Yet, for now, it wants to observe market reactions and assess the necessity of measures.

On Friday, the Commerce Ministry, which still maintains this year's export target at 8 to 9 per cent, will hold a discussion with exporters. The Thai Frozen Foods Association earlier estimated that its producers will lose Bt20 billion for every Bt1 increase in the baht against the dollar. The association is fretting that it may fail to achieve its revenue target of Bt1 trillion this year.

The strong baht is also now expected to hurt the government's revenue projections.

Wanee Thasanamontien, principal adviser on tax strategies, said that export-oriented companies in particular will see a sharp decline in revenue when dollar-denominated income is converted to baht. With lower profits, the companies will also pay lower income taxes.

Meanwhile, the stronger baht would make dollar-denominated imports cheaper. The Revenue Department, which collects taxes according to CIF (cost, insurance and freight) rates, will then collect a smaller amount of tax.

This will further lessen the department's revenue, as the corporate income tax cut to 20 per cent this year would slash annual revenue by another Bt80 billion. Wanee estimated that if corporate earnings show annualised growth by 25 per cent or more, this would compensate for the missing revenue. The department aims to collect Bt1.77 trillion this fiscal year.

 

 The Nation 2013-04-23

Songkran Death Toll 29 Percent More Than Last Year; Tougher Law Enforcement Ordered Started by webfact, Today, 07:22

Tougher law enforcement ordered
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan yesterday ordered all 76 provincial governors and other officials to get tougher in enforcing the law after the Songkran death toll was 29 per cent more than last year even though road accidents were lesser.

 

 

Over the first three of the seven dangerous days, 173 people died and 1,526 were injured in road accidents caused mainly by drunk driving.

Charupong told a meeting of the Road Safety Centre that the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation had recorded 655 accidents on Saturday, which was down 10 per cent from last year, but deaths had soared 28 per cent to 72.

Drunk driving was the major cause of accidents at 46 per cent followed by speeding at 24 per cent. Motorcycles were involved in 82 per cent of accidents and pickup trucks in 10 per cent.

 Not wearing a helmet was the top risk behaviour. About 22 per cent of accidents were on straight roads, 66 per cent on village roads and 38 per cent on highways. The most dangerous time of the day was 4-8pm. Some 54 per cent of the casualties were workers. About 68,970 police manned 2,339 checkpoints, stopped 719,010 vehicles and charged 123,770 people with traffic offences, of whom 37,420 did not wear safety helmets and 34,936 could not produce a driver's licence.

Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most accidents at 25 and the most injured at 27 people, followed by Suphan Buri with five accidents.

Before chairing a videoconference of 76 governors, Charupong said he would have local officials stage public awareness campaigns to make people drive more carefully during the last two days of Songkran.

Officials would not be taken to task for the rise in casualties as they were already doing their best but they must strictly enforce the ban against alcohol sales, especially by street vendors, he said.

Chatchai Promlert, director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, said that statistics showed accidents were more severe this year. The weather bureau also warned of tropical storms in the North and Northeast that would make roads more slippery.

Dr Chonlanan Srikaew, a deputy public health minister, said this year's accidents were more severe than last year. Of the 1,321 seriously injured, 67 per cent died at the scene and 43 per cent in hospital emergency rooms.

The ministry has instructed its officials across the country to coordinate with local police to enforce the prohibition against alcohol sales more thoroughly and initiate campaigns urging the public to call 1669 hotline when they come across accidents, as the ministry has 15,000 emergency medical teams standing by to offer assistance.

Pol Colonel Thongchai Bunsombat, superintendent of Samre Police Station, admitted that a team of his officers returned fire at a gang of 10 motorcycle racers during a chase. Massayabun Maneewong, 39, who was shot in the stomach by a stray bullet at her stall on King Taksin Road on the Thon Buri side, died later.

-- The Nation 2013-04-15

Pattaya prepares for Thunderstorms and possible flooding

The weather outlook has been bleak in Pattaya for most of the week. Pattaya103.com had a nice article about yesterdays flooding and forecast.

Storms bring Pattaya to Grinding Halt

All through the week the 103 weather has been predicting the storms that hit today, bringing the city to a grinding halt and adding to the usual afternoon gridlock in many areas.
Power outages were fixed quickly but the internet in the area has, from many suppliers, been up and down today as all roads from the Sukhumvit to the Beach saw major flooding making some unpassable.
The railway road on the East side took it badly as Siam Country club road, Nerm Plab wan and Khao Noi as well as KhaoTalo became gushing rivers. Our own Drive time DJ, Goldfinger, was told to stay at home as his journey would have seen him attempting to cross 1 metre deep waters on his motorcycle.
On Beach Road business was seriously affected as much of the area was under water, and second road too saw more than its fair share.
Two separate storms hit the region as they came across Asia from China...and more is expected. We are told to be prepared for similar weather for at least the next 3 days.

 

Outbound Bangkok trains, bus terminals crowded by Songkran exodus

If you are thinking of heading up country for this years Songkran you should check out this article from Thai Visa








BANGKOK, April 11 -- Train stations and bus terminals in Bangkok are crowded with passengers beginning to flow out of the capital to celebrate the Thai traditional new year, or Songkran long holidays, and homecoming trips.

Revellers started arriving at Hua Lamphong Railway Station early morning to catch trains to their hometowns. The northeastern route was on highest demand followed by the northern route.

Additional holiday April 12

The Cabinet approved an additional holiday April 12 as a special case during Songkran to enable people to return home during the festival, making it a 5-day holiday (April 12-16).

The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has implemented measures to facilitate and ensure the safety of passengers during April 11-18.

Eight extra trains will be provided on top of 250 daily train services April 11-12 and 18 extra trains from April 15-18 which could carry an additional 13,000 passengers daily on average.

Meanwhile, Mo Chit Bus Terminal was gradually crowded since early morning, particularly the northeastern route.

More than 210,000 passengers are expected to use the interprovincial bus services today.

The Transport Company increased the numbers of services by 2,000 trips and expected to cope with the high demand of passengers.

No stranded passengers were expected by midnight.

At Suvarnabhumi Airport, it is expected that more than 164,000 passengers will use the airport on Thursday, a highest number during the festival.

Various airlines have provided more than 400 chartered flights to respond the demand of passengers. (MCOT online news)

 
 -- TNA 2013-04-11

Suvarnabhumi ranks no 6 on world's best airport list

BANGKOK, 3 April 2013 (NNT)-Suvarnabhumi reportedly ranked 6th on the Airports Council International (ACI) world's best airport list last year. It is said that the title could not have been without the efforts from all sectors involved on a day to day operation at Suvarnabhumi.

 

Suvarnabhumi Airport Departures Hall
File phote. Source: Wikipedia.org

Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Wilaiwan Nadwilai said Suvarnabhumi is among airports around the world with the capacity to accommodate more than 40 million passengers being ranked annually in terms of service quality standards by the ACI.

Last year, 199 airports contended for top rankings. Each year the ACI surveys around 400,000 airport users whether they are satisfied with the services provided.

They are asked to rate the following aspects of the airport: the accessibility, luggage search, passport checking, sign directions, airport staff services, hygiene and atmosphere; just to name a few.

According to her, the first five best airports are Changi Airport of Singapore, China's Beijing International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Guangzhou Airport.

The Suvarnabhumi Airport Director has also expressed her gratitude to every employee and staff at the airport who has contributed to the global recognition. She also said that Suvarnabhumi is also aiming to be among the world's top 5 airports by 2014.

Can Thailand change from driving on the left side of the road to the right??

This should be interesting. Found this article on Thai Visa and wanted to share.

 
Right hand countries in red, left hand countries in blue



BANGKOK: -- The Thai government is proposing a change from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side of the road, the department of public roads has announced. The proposal will be send to parliament in June and the law will take affect on 1 January 2014, with the turning of the year.

According to Tongchai Matchamonton, spokesman for the department, the change is being proposed to better prepare for ASEAN community and meant to strengthen the economy. “Most of the ASEAN member states already drive on the left hand side and with more
open trade between the countries this will make transports and logistics more easy, especially with the neighboring countries Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Also important is that China drives on the right and the change will make transport to and from the greater Mekong region  easier. This is an important step forwards for our economy. Already Thailand is planning its rail transport to have the same rail gauge as neighboring countries. Driving on the same side of the road is only the next logical step in order for Thailand to become a transport hub for Asia.”

The spokesman expects that the change would be without major problems or accidents.
“We will inform the people beforehand with a campaign. “Our successes with reducing the number of accidents during holidays like Songkran proofs we can do the transition safely. The change will take place during the new year as at that time there are already a lot of check-points all over the country. They will see to it that the change will be made without incident”.

It is also hoped that the change will increase the safety of tourist, as most tourist are used to drive on the left. The department confirmed that many accidents with tourists happen because they go out and drink too much. When they get on their motorcycle they cause accidents because they drive on the wrong side of the road out of habit. This is being confirmed by Phuket police.

The government will demand that car manufacturers only sell new cars with the steering wheel on the left and is busy with consulting the major car manufacturers. It already agreed with the Chinese car manufactures' that their new to open plant in Thailand
will only produce cars for driving on the left.

As of 1 January 2014 all cars sold in Thailand will need to have the steering wheel on the left side. Old normal cars can keep their steering wheel on the right, but owners cannot sell these cars. For that the car must first be refitted with the steering wheel on the left.
Per 1 January 2020 all cars in Thailand, including old cars, must be refitted. However buses, trucks and taxis will be exempted as they are driven by professional drivers who can handle their vehicle safely.

The spokesmen further announced that the government is negotiating with car manufacturers in Thailand to set a fair price for refitting cars, so consumers will not pay too much to adjust their car. Under the plan owners of a car not older than 5 year will get half of the price for refitting back from the government through their personal income tax, so they don’t have to spend too much money.