Eric Loh

I think the Industry Minister Suriya got this right. The strong Baht will remain due to the favourable fundamentals that Thailand enjoyed for now. The BOT responsibility is to keep the Baht stable by soaking up wild gyrations and using fiscal policies. BOT must remain independent and not submit to political pressure and interference. To offset the currency strength, companies will have to be more productive and that's where the government can help by training and grants for automation and mechanization.  

11 hours ago, emptypockets said:

They tripled it a few years ago and my, oh my, didn't the posters on here whinge about increased prices. The talk is to increase again to 450b per day. Don't be surprised when prices increase again to match the increased input costs for business.

Last few years wage was increased from 300B to 325B, hardly tripled. Inflation still subdued and the fear more on stagnation. The government should look at structural reform like wage increase rather than temporary fixes like handouts etc that will only good for a short period. That's my point. 

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Cabinet mulls uses for unspent billions

Paper profit by clever accountants. 

Captain Thammanat is a scary dude not to be messed with with his alleged criminal connection. He will get things done in a jiffy.   

The whole global aviation universe knows the problem of Thai Airways except the Thai government. Too much state control and too many board members resulting in delayed and inefficient decision making. 

http://bakertilly.co.th/insights/thai-airways-drastic-action-required/

30 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

My reading of it is the EU has not been impressed with Thailand's human rights record, particularly in the fishing industry. Fortunately for Thailand the EU has lifted Thailand's "yellow card" which has been in place since 2015.

But this has been met with misgivings and even strong resistance from some employment and human rights organisations who claim that human trafficking is still rampant.

The onus of proof seems to be in Thailand's court and this could be a handicap to Thailand's quest for an FTA.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/10/eu-under-fire-after-lifting-threat-to-ban-thai-seafood-imports-over-illegal-fishing

EU was also not pleased that the junta government didn't invite their observation team for the election. 

39 minutes ago, madmitch said:

The minimum wage means nothing. The Government admitted the other day the 40% of the population earns less than 6000 baht a month. These are probably self-employed farmers and their families, who double as staff. An increase in the minimum wage won't help these people.

The self-employed is actually higher and growing and is now 50% of the entire workforce. The increase in minimum wage will do couple of things - attract more of this group of informal workers back into the employed workforce and the higher wages will provide a trickle down economics and stimulate the domestic consumption which will benefit those self-employed. Don't claimed that wage increase is the only fiscal tool that the government can use; there are quite a few that can provide structural reform and not temporary fixes like stimulus package.  

12 minutes ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Financial literacy has been falling over the years. It should be taught at school.

What about wages not commensurate with raising living costs, losing jobs and lesser income (OT) from struggling companies in this harsh economic times. Not all debts are about buying cars. Could just be mundane household items, rents and schools expenditures. It's not all about financial literacy; most blames should be on poor and failing government policies to address structural issues.  

41 minutes ago, Quickmill said:

The process to first discussion with EU about FTA has began last month, we will see the result.

Judging from the statement by Thai trade delegates below, the FTA will be quite a while away. 

 "The focus is on exchanging data to pave the way for future talks."

What he said about this mistake does provide some possible clues. 

“ It will be settled soon because I had no intention of doing it wrongly. Let’s focus on the intention”.

Clearly it was deliberate and an outcome will eventuate. What will it be is the million dollar question. 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Premier concerned over economic fundamentals, proposes economic measures

Looking forward to a robust parliamentary session on the budget. This will be fodder for the opposition to tear into the defense and interior ministry huge allocations. A vote of no confidence is timely now. 

27 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Just highlights the total incompetence of the PM could not even read a document given to him to swear the oath.I don't think he is smart enough to have deliberatley left out important parts of the oath, probably has POTUS syndrohme cannot read more than one line without losing his train of thought.

Begs the question whether the oath was redacted. Conspiracy theory aplenty. 

57 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

I knew the coalition would collapse but never thought it would bethis quick.  

The next party to leave the coalition will most likely to be the Thai Forest Conservative Party. The party has 2 MP seats. They have threatened to leave after the natural resources and environment ministerial position -- which the party wished to be in charge of -- was handed to the Chartthaipattana Party. 

40 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

What a typo.   He must mean hopes of its demise.  Would think over priced champaign will be flying off the shelves if cha cha was sent home with that smug look on his face.  Most Thais I know can't wait to see him go. 

19 parties coalition with 5 leaving. 14 is not a good omen and sound like “sure die”. Maybe you right. It’s curtains for cha cha and most Thais will be celebrating. 

1 hour ago, onera1961 said:

Because Thailand does not not sell citizenship. You can buy Fast track Singapore citizenship for 2.5 mil USD

It’s called the Investor Scheme and only for PR not citIzenship. 

12 hours ago, Issannative said:

I find it quite amazing that people even talk or refer to this ongoing junta as a government


Sent from my LDN-LX2 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Let’s meet half way and refer this as a junta government since nothing really have change. 

11 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

You are confusing " unfair judiciary harassment and intimidation " with the rule of law.......... but I expect you know that already.

Staging a coup is within the law? Just one example of the many the junta disregard for the rule of law. You probably don’t agree. 

With so many dissenters, activists and even a band having to flee Thailand for fear of unfair judiciary harassment and intimidation, the image of democracy in Thailand is rather tarnished. No wonder democracy never able to survive. 

17 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

I suggest you start with the high value baht which is what ALL Thai exporters have blamed in part for lower exports. 

Currency depreciation would not help the depressed rubber industry. Rubber product prices have dropped almost 40% and will continue to be depressed for the next 2-3 years. No amount of Baht depreciation can offset that huge price differentiation. Thailand has about 35% of the world supply and export almost 85% of raw materials and subject to serious fluctuation. The solution is to export less and increase more value added local manufacturing. The government must attract more international companies for downstream products. 

The Silpa-Arch family should be familiar with surviving by being a slippery eel and prostrating to the military. 

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai Chamber of Commerce on Thursday asked the Bank of Thailand (BOT) to further trim the benchmark interest rate

Problem with the TCC recommendation, all central banks are thinking the same including the FED who likely to cut 2 to 3 times within this year. Competitive devaluation will not be good for everyone. BOT better use other fiscal policies to rein in the baht. At a low 1.5%, Thailand will run out of monetary tools to help the economy when the world economy goes into another meltdown. Really a matter of when than why if that evil genius is still in the white house.