nigelforbes

As above, great phones, but.......Xiaomi has moved away from using Google Play Store (GPS) for their apps and now uses Get Apps which can't be removed, not as secure as GPS and is the one reason I can think of not to buy Xiaomi. It seems this is a major issue with many Thai people, as it is with me.

Thai Probate Court is not interested in what is written in your UK will, similarly, the UK Probate Court is not interested in the contents of your Thai will, unless there is a dispute of course. Each court will process any valid will that is within its jursdiction. Mentioning in a Thai will for example that you are leaving all your UK assets to your son makes it unclear in my mind whether you are attempting to write a will that includes Thai assets or global assets, at a minimum it is an attempt to overlap jurisdictions which I understand is risky. FWIW the opening para in my Thai will and in my UK will, both state that "this will covers all my assets located in country X and specifically excludes assets located elsewhere". The second para reads along the lines of, "All my assets located in the Kingdom of Thailand are governened by my Thai will". I cannot add further to what I have written, rather than go back and forth on this my advice to anyone who is unsure on this point (or any related point) is to consult with the legal profession in the jurisdiction of the will.

If that's what you like, you should do whatever makes you happy, just don't ask for anyone to tell you that's Ok and legal! All the advice I have ever recieved or read on this subject is that the two wills are entriely separate and clearly define their boundaries whislt mentioning the existence of the other. Your statement "all UK assets to my son" doesn't define who wour son is or how he might be identified, nor doesit define major assets which appears important in Thailand. Most importantly, the statement above attempts to allocate assets in one jurisdiction, to a will in another jurisdiction, probate and a laywer will have fun with that.

The question was, what information do witnesses need to provide, along with their signature, presumably to prove their identity. If you don't think they need anything apart from a signature, that's your choice. Every will that I have written or seen here or in the UK has always listed some form of identification, even if (in the UK) only the DOB and address. Thai ID cards don't expire so that number is good for life. Passports expire every ten years so that's a reasonable life span for the document, plus there's usually some form of auudit trail back to old passport numbers, I hstill have every passport I was ever issued over the past sixty years.

Name, address and ID card or passprt number.

Foriegn or Thai, it doesn't matter, as long as they are breathing. No, they do not need to attend, just sign.

Every business in Thailand must be at least 51% Thai owned, that doesn't prevent foriegn brands from competing here, the list of them is lengthy. Foriegn banks can obtain a retail banking license, as long as they have Thai majority share ownership, CIMB, UOB, Standard Chartered, HSBC (previously), BOC, Citibnak etc., all hold/held retail banking licenses so they can be obtained. This year, BOT has anounced the issuance of five new retail banking licenses to foriegn banks, see the following link. https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30209345

Retail lending is not as profitable as commercial lending. Even though MLR is always lower than MRR. Banks only engage with the retail sector because they need retail deposits, if banks had a choice they wouldn’t engage. Retail lending is higher risk, less profitable and more labour intensive, hence the higher rates of interest. MRR at Thai banks is currently in the range of 6.8% to 7.2%, this rises and falls as the headline rate changes and as the interest rate on savings changes. Banks are not required to pass through the MLR whenever the headline rate increases, so far this year. 68% have. MLR and MRR defend the banks profitability margin and appears unscrupulous at first. But the population is far higher risk. It is lower income by comparison to the West, has fewer safety nets and is more prone to income volatility, hence the need for a higher MRR.

Lending rates in Thailand vary based on risk, just as they do in almost every country. The lowest risk and cheapest interest rate is when a bank borrows from the Central Bank (BOT), the second cheapest is bank to bank lending interest rates. Commercial lending rates are third and retail or consumer lending, the most expensive, is fourth. BOT (or the MPC) sets the policy or headline rate, that is the lowest rate at which the Central Bank will lend to other banks, in other countries this is known as the Prime or Base Rate. Bank to bank lending rates, typically BIBOR (Bangkok Inter Bank Overnight Rate) is the next lowest, it uses the policy rate as a base but adds a premia based on the borrowers risk profile, amount borrowed and duration of the loan. Higher up the rate ladder is the MLR. MLR is the Minimum Lending Rate, this is the lowest rate at which a bank will lend to its most credit worthy and lowest risk commercial customers and is typically about 5% above the policy rate. Finally, at the top of the ladder is the Minimum Retail Rate (MRR) which is the lowest interest rate charged by retail banks to their most credit worthy retail customer. Typically, MLR will be about 6% above the policy rate. In every instance, except the first example above, customers who are a higher credit risk will see their interest rate increase by an amount, proportionate to the lenders increased risk. Typically, any additional interest that is added to MRR will be capped at around 12%. (see linked example below). Maximum MLR, MMR and other caps are set by BOT as a percentage. Banks cannot exceed those caps but they are not required to adopt them, when the headline rate is increased. For example, a poor risk retail customer my be offered MRR plus 12%. This comprises the policy rate, plus the MRR premia, plus the additional risk premia. If the BOT policy rate is 2%, and the MRR premia is 6%, and the customers risk profile is such, the borrower in that example will be charged 18% per annum and may increase as the policy rate increases. Other lenders such as finance houses etc, may appear to offer lower headline lending rates but when all their charges and terms are added into the mix, they are rarely, if ever, cheaper. Loans from Finance Companies are often easier to obtain but beware the small print. Note: all banks, finance house and lenders must be licensed by BOT, otherwise they are illegal. https://krungthai.com/Download/rateFee/RateFeeDownload_4672Table_2_Loan_Interest_Rate_EN_1.2.66.pdf

Far be it for me to muddy the waters on this but the CPI graph looks very very different from the supposed inflation graph above! Now I know that there's inflation, core inflation (doesn't include energy and food) and then there's CPI.....but!! @tgw https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/consumer-price-index-cpi

I don't believe the numbers, inflation typically doesn't fall that quickly, not from that height. The idea that May will see 2% seems unlikely, but there again, an election is very near! https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/inflation-cpi

I presume you mean as a private patient? Assuming you do, in Chiang Mai you would probably visit Sriphat Hospital which is the private arm of the government hospital and is equally as expensive as the other private hospitals. I suppose you could try going to a government hospital and assuming you have a gastric or bowel complaint, that may see you referred for a colonoscopy but I suspect it would take time, involve lots of waiting and the cost may end up being similar. If the need for the colonoscopy was not driven my medical factors and you just wanted a ten year exam as an elective procedure, I doubt you would be able to arange that at the government hospital, but I may be wrong.

You can call them from within the UK and tell them when you arrived but you will need to call the international pension center because this is where your records are.

OK, understood. For future reference, seeing Dr Roy at Rutnin is now a very slick and quick process, as long as you have an appointment in advance. It used to be very difficult and time consuming, now it is not.

You may be correct about the pricing differences but I will be surprised if Bumrungrad is cheaper than Rutnin. I have used both places and see Dr Roy at Rutnin, I strongly suspect BG overhead costs are much higher than Rutnin.

How many days or nights does a person need to stay in order to qualify as a tourist, and why? Anyone who visits the country only for a few hours and spends money here for pleasure (rather than business) is a tourist, by any definition. "a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure". https://www.google.com/search?q=define+tourist&rlz=1C1UEAD_enTH996TH996&oq=define+tourist&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQABgTGIAEMgkIAhAAGBMYgAQyCQgDEAAYExiABDIJCAQQABgTGIAEMgkIBRAAGBMYgAQyCQgGEAAYExiABDIJCAcQABgTGIAEMgkICBAAGBMYgAQyCQgJEAAYExiABNIBCTI4ODdqMWoxNagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Aww, confused so early in the morning, I know it's difficult to understand.

I suggest you ask at different branches.

PM2.5 is typically calculated as a percentage of PM10 so if one falls, the other falls also. PM10 is larger microns that typically fall to ground sooner because they are heavier. PM2.5 are lighter and travel further. When something is burned, both PM2.5 and PM10 are produced. But some products, by their very make up and design, produce more PM2.5 than PM10, maize for example.

Exactly wrong, I had my picture taken at Bangkok Bank this week.

Monthly export figures are extremely volatile, some months they appear very low but in other months they are the opposite. In December, exports dropped to USD 20 bill but in March they were close to USD 28 bill., despite which the media reported March 2023 export figures as a drop on a YoY basis. The preceding March, against which March 2023 was being compared, was an all time high so no wonder this March was slightly lower. Public perception of the headline figures being reported is important, Joe Public only needs to read that exports are lower and they stop reading, because at that point they know all there is about the subject - exports are lower, exports fell in value, the economy is going to heck in a ham basket and is collapsing! Yawn. The same is true of freight movements. During covid, shippers hung on to shipping containers because it was a cheap way to store inventory, this resulted in a global shortage which persists until today. Suppliers are slowly burning their way through their excess inventory in these containers but this means freight shippers don't currently have the same volume of business they would otherwise have had, which doesn't mean that shipped products aren't selling. Plus I would argue that looking at freight movements between US and China, the worlds two largest economies, results in an anomaly. Perhaps it's better to see what the really large Greek shipping lines are doing to get a better read on the state of freight movements. The Baltic Dry Exchange measures the cost of shipping dry freight, if you want to understand supply and demand in freight shipping, this is as a good of an indicator as any - currently, the BEDI is at pre-covid levels. TNSC reports a Thai exports contraction in March 2023, remember, March was the second highest exports volume ever! Is anyone surprised!! TNSC also reports a forecast of 0-1% growth in exports for 2023. Given that 2023 will see the US in or near a recession and global demand still recovering from the impact of covid, 0-1% growth in exports is pretty good in my book, the fact it hasn't gone negative is amazing. https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/baltic https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG230503090158508 https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/exports

An MRI is an MRI, as long as the site that is administering the MRI is accredited and the operative qualified. Interpretation of the MRI results is another story, that is not something I would leave to an MRI shop.

My SSA was deposited into my account in Thailand a few hours ago.

Endoscopy or upper GI is frequently packaged or combined with a colonoscopy, that way the gastro can see the entire start to finish digestive system

Round trip, upper and lower that is, package price 36k, RAM. All the privates are similarly priced.