The Thai economy hit a 15-year high at 12 per cent growth in the first quarter of this year but the recent political violence could pull growth down by 1.5 per cent, National Economics and Social Development Board (NESDB) secretary-general Ampong Kitti-ampon said on Monday. Thailand Business News

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Thailand’s GDP growth hits 15-year high at 12% in Q1

Domestic demand has also shown signs of life, but the severe weather, the withdrawal of consumption-based fiscal stimulus and political uncertainty should be a drag on growth. With a large fraction of the population still occupied in agriculture or working in rural areas, agriculture is a critical variable for the performance of household consumption.
While the Thai government is aware of the need for these reforms, political uncertainties have made it more challenging to pursue them

There has been a massive outflow from China, particularly into energy and resources. The more savvy Thai companies are increasingly tailoring their investor relations strategies to the changes in power in the markets.
‘‘Only 35 companies on the SET have market capitalizations of more than $1 billion, with another 80 companies between $200 million and $1 billion.

The process of 3G auction under the responsibility of the National Telecommunication Commission of Thailand (NTC) has been rescheduled many times due to some complications in details of the bidding conditions and its prices. Thailand Business News

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3G service to be launched in Thailand early 2011

The output of other sectors was also affected during the recent crisis, although less markedly because they had been growing slower than the sectors linked to external demand.
The continuation of certain government policies, especially the pension to the elderly and free education should also support higher consumption levels for the poor. The longer-term goal of reducing reliance on external demand will take time, especially given political uncertainties that hinder the government’s ability to implement not only its investment program but also needed structural reforms.

Alexander Wood, a founding partner of AWR Lloyd, believes the global crisis has acted as a catalyst for a fundamental, structural change in the global capital markets. The real new players in the markets are the sovereign wealth funds.
Many Thai listed companies, while public, aren’t really public : they remain family-owned companies with low free floats.

The management of Thailand’s commercial banks are permitted to instruct an immediate halt to ATM services or the operations of bank branches in risk-prone areas without prior consent from the central bank,  according to Bank of Thailand (BoT) Deputy Governor Krirk Vanikkul. Continue Reading

The government is obligated to keep peace and the security forces have been instructed to ready measures to control the situation amid the anticipated red-shirt protests, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said yesterday.

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Security forces ready to deal with red-shirt protests : Suthep
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The long-awaited land and building tax has been tabled and should be enforced this year as the Thai economy is now on the path to recovery from the global recession, says Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Continue Reading

Using a comprehensive survey of 1,043 firms taken during April-November 2007, the new report, Thailand Investment Climate Assessment Update 2008, showed that more than two-thirds of the firms rated the uncertain economic and political environment as major or severe obstacles to doing business in Thailand that year.

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Board of Trade: Political conflict still key pressure on economic growth
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About 75 per cent of the Bt2,000 “Help the country” cheques was spent immediately, with lower income recipients tending to save less than higher income earners, according to an opinion poll released yesterday.

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Few pause in cashing and spending their Govt cheques

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