brazil

i am sure the next 12 months for the thai economy will very interesting indeed.

tuesday was economic hari kari

the same exporters they look to protect from the baht in the short term will now struggle to obtain finace in the long term for their debt restruturing, finance for stock options to build plant, factories to make them all more competitive against the vietnamese and chinese.

the very same money they want to stop, is the every same money which has finaced a large chunk of the economy from building roads to airports, bridges, mass comunication projects, transport projects, debt restructuring.

it is a very loud and clear statement of intent by thailand has to how now it sees itself in the global community.

While it may look that way, it is not the case. This is a country that was attacked and beaten into bankruptcy by speculators. By floating the THB, this was not supposed to happen again, but speculators have no interests other than money and were attacking again. It was becoming obvious that the speculators were going to continue causing the THB to appreciate, taking profits periodically, until Thailand's exports collapsed. Then the speculators would move on to another country. Really, I don't know what the answer is, and apparently, nobody else does either.

no body is questioning the position of thailand on currency speculation after the 1997 crash.

you are asking in many of your threads that people should give ideas not shoot the decision down.

please remember one thing!

the finance minister has openly admitted that the decision on currency controls was not discussed outside of the bot which raises so many alarm bells as to why they chose not to seek further clarification on the end results of their actions before they took the final decision.

if the finance ministry took your stance on asking for further ideas, then maybe tuesday could have been avoided.

it is remarkable how the bot did not seek further ideas from other such sources in the thai financial community

the present finance minister has never acted before in such a way!

which leaves the question on "who " exactly pushed the idea through

in any case

the damage is already done

i am sure the next 12 months for the thai economy will very interesting indeed.

tuesday was economic hari kari

the same exporters they look to protect from the baht in the short term will now struggle to obtain finance in the long term for their debt restruturing, stock options to build plant, factories to make them all more competitive against the vietnamese and chinese.

the very same money they want to stop, is the every same money which has financed a large chunk of the economy from building roads to airports, bridges, mass comunication projects, transport projects, debt restructuring.

over the next 3-6 months 20 - 25 billion dollars will leave thailand and will migrate to hong kong, korea and india. there is now way that the fund managers will allow themselves to be exposed again in the future. their exposure will dilute by half, and to avoid any panic selling again on the markets they will play a cat and mouse game with the market to get their money out of the system.

this will still leave 20-25 billion dollars in the system, but will strain the economic progress of thailand for many years to come.

was it really worth the short term gain on the baht?

it is a very loud and clear statement of intent by thailand has to how it now sees itself in the global community.

its all called putting into place sustainable economy against free market.

these people are just out of touch with the world has it stands today, which is a real worry for thai people

a property purchase through a company on a lease hold purchase is exempt, as for freehold for individulal purchase of property, it seems the bot have yet to change their minds to exempt this purchase through the new rule.

like everything its just wait and see attitude right!

BOT officials are now saying that it IS EXEMPT.

what are you saying

all property is exempt?

property funds are exempt?

those who have deposited property purchases prior to new rule are exempt?

there are only articles in todays papers quoting foreign property companies in wanting further clarification to the new rules

where does it say that anthing other than stock prurchases is exempt!

another bank scam in asia

it will be interesting to see how many foreigners come forward to admit to having their funds taken from their bank accounts in thailand or when receiving money it is mysteriously sent to another account for which no one is to blame at the thai bank and therefore the foreigner has lost all their money.

BOT officials are now saying that it IS EXEMPT.

There is an addendum to the main policy paper, in which there is apparently some clarification on its application to property investments.

My staff are on this issue and i should be able to obtain the official statement soon.

As James Pitchon pointed out today, property is relatively illiquid and does not qualify as a class of asset suitable for short term speculative trading.

only property funds will have to see if they are exempt. all other purchases on property are under the new rules

is that it?

after tuesdays economic hari kari, i for one would think there were a few anonymous messages on executing a few people

the finance ministry and bot allow this one day lunatic decision.

but allow 30% budget increase in the milliatry and 1.5 Billion baht expenses for the coup.

umm

its going to be an very interesting next 6 months in thailand

Damage already done

Totally agree. I have been stopped a couple of times by the "2 cops on a motorbike" in the very same area.

Don't know if they were the same guys but the procedure was as you describe.

yeah the area from emporioum to ekamai bus station is the juristiction of the thong lo police, so sounds like the same section of police stopped you as well as myself and many of my friends in that area.

thong lo police are very famous in the minds of most of my friends for stopping farangs in the street

i have been stopped and 6 other of my farang friends even my japanese friend who is the md of suzuki has been stopped while we all have been living in bangkok over the years.we all dress in a smart way so it seems only our colour that they use to stop people.

it is nearly always 2 cops on a motorbike who will slow down and stop you walking.

they will ask you that they are checking for drugs or some other excuse and then check your wallet and pockets.

the worst areas are from the emporiom to ekamai bus station.

if in those areas walking then my advice is to carry a passport so that the police have no excuses to take you back to the station and try to lessen the load inside your wallet

the thai government can only limit legal transactions for goods or services. If the terroists use the black market then no one can determine how much money is being brought into thailand.

the chinese are a great example and so are the indians. some use money launderers at a rate of 1.5% and when the money is given to those agents, then the next day the money is deposited in any given account in the world by cash transactions using local citizens. the money never actually leaves a country. the chinese black market will have offices in most countries around the world and they are all in some way connected. i am also sure that people will not just have one bank account to place the funds but a variety of accounts under various names and businesses.

so if the chinese and and indians can get around the system, i am sure the terroists can.

so s john was a merchant sailor.

great

so the money laundering in sathahip " um sorry missprint" i mean all the outstanding social work will continue

http://bangkokpost.net/scorecard2006/thaksin.html

funny how this article slipped trough the net.

it just goes to show how many people today just follow the news in thailand as if they are all brain dead.

they should rename this website www.taksinbashing.com

how many more articles by thai people with links against taksin will we have to endure on this website.

it seems right now that many of these articles against taksin are really scrapping the barrel for worthy print material.

every government in thailand is corrupt and will be corrupt for the rest of its history.

in the last 70 years how many times do we hear about a purchase of a few tanks which cost double the amount they supposed to cost. um? corruption!!

how about the great naval warship bought from the aussie navy.just sitting in sattahip. why?

how about all those governemnt ministers investing in their own private scheme to import iraqi oil in the early nineties even though they was an oil embargo on that country.Even though it was an illegal action which went against the thai government at the time. not one of them paid any tax on that oil. where did all there non tax profits go? um probably in a few nice homes in milan?

how about the great crime of the bangkok highways charging 40 baht when really it should be 10 baht? i remember taksin was threatened by certain people that if he reduced the charge to 10 baht that his life could be in jeopardy. and funny enough a bomb was found a week later on his plane? corruption?

history of 70 years in thailand tells the complete story.

CORRUPTION ALL THE WAY PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE

IF YOU DONT LIKE IT GUYS THEN LEAVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.

I LOVE IT

AND THATS WHY I LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY.

i also read in one of the papers that 7 billion baht was left unspent in the last 5 years for bangkoks budget and the democratic bangkok governor has asked the new government if he can be allowed to spend this money.

Pasted from bangkok post online.

Thaksin leaves a legacy

Listed companies benefit from populist policies

By KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN

Many listed companies’ performancesandreturnsoninvestment are largely tied to major government policies, adopted to drive the Thai economy over the past few years.

TheThai economyhas enjoyed robust growth during the past five years, thanks to the implementation of ‘‘dual-track’’ policies by the Thai Rak Thai-led government. The economy came out of a four-year slump with 2.2% growth in 2001, rising to7%in2003, before declining to 6.2% and 4.5% in 2004 and 2005.

Of the market’s 27 sectors, health care has outperformed the others with a 75% five-year return.

Stock-market gains reflected healthy economic expansion. The average fiveyear total shareholder return (TSR) of the 400-plus companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in2005 stood at 32.6%.

Of the market’s 27 sectors, health care services outperformed the others with a 75%five-year return, followed byproperty development with51.2%and construction materials with 50.2%.

The worst-performing sectors were entertainment and recreation, which yielded a five-year TSR of only 7.5%, followed by electronic components, with 8.1% and professional services with 11.9%.

Analysts agreed that the most important factor for health care’s five-year TSR was the universal 30-baht health-care programme. Supavud Saicheua, the managing director of Phatra Securities, said the 30- baht scheme was a good policy in general, which had boosted the entire sector. However, its implementation has been fraught with difficulties over the budget and private hospitals’ reluctance to take part.

Mr Supavud added: ‘‘Thailand has many world-class hospitals and they are also benefiting from medical tourism. A lot of patients from the Middle East, Singapore and even Europe come here for treatment.’’

The property development sector — thesecond best performer—also received a big boost from the Thaksin Shinawatra administration

.

To bring the once-hard-hit sector out of a slump, the government floated a number of stimulus measures, including tax incentives, greater access to mortgages for homebuyers and theBaanUa-arthorn low-cost housing project.

Record-low interest rates also spurred demand and the sector had begun to make a modest recovery by 2001.

Dr Supavud said the government wanted to multiply the performance of the property sector in other industries.

‘‘The policy did work as sales in property-related sectorssuchas cement, steel and other construction materials, as well as in furniture and electrical appliances, rose as well,’’ he added.

In 2005, the construction materials sectorwas the third best performer overall in terms of average five-year TSR.

A government policy to increase the value of land owned by the Treasury across the country, also aided the recovery. The Treasury Department has gradually adjusted rents and now puts its land to better use.

The departmental so launcheda massive project to build a civil service centre on ChaengWatthana Roadand mobilised funds to finance the project through the sale of asset-backed securities.

The fifth best-performing sector, automotives, has benefited from the government’s ‘‘Detroit of Asia’’ drive, said Korawut Leenabanchong, chief investment officer of UOB Asset Management.

Big-name carmakers including General Motors, Ford Motor, Toyota, Isuzu and Mitsubishi have already established or relocated substantial production bases to Thailand.

‘‘Together with rising car exports, local vehicle sales have risen strongly after the economic crisis. This means autoparts businesses such as chassis, car seats, tyres, and so on are getting better too,’’ he said.

Sectors to watch were food and beverages, and agribusiness, Mr Korawut added. They are growing as commodity prices rise for produce such as rubber, palm and rice, while local consumption is also on the rise.

‘‘Even if they were affected by bird flu, they could come back and grow,’’ he said.

Another sector popular with investors for many years is energy. PTT alone represents

12% of the SET’s total market capitalisation. Increasing global oil prices have supported the sector’sgrowthoverall, and energy stocks have historically paid high dividends.

PTT share prices rose from an IPO price of 35 baht each in 2001 to above 200 baht within two years.

In contrast, the poormarket performers had faced slow downs in export markets, like the US. The electronic components sector, in particular, was in a global downturn. Moreover, competition has been heating up from China in terms of costs.

An analyst at Capital Nomura Securities said the banking sector’s performance was linked to economic expansion,adding that lending growth had been minimal over the past few years due to limited credit demand. ‘‘We have just come out of the crisis and companies needed time to adjust themselves. Some of them have just expandedtheir capacities after their productio nutilisations became almostfull,’’ he said.

‘‘However, the prospect in thecoming years is brighter.’’

thailand is not bankrupt

it can afford these amounts in the fiscal policy.

as the new governmet just bankrolled the mega projects for next year.

corruption in the last government? every government in thailand is corrupt

this will never change. its the way of this country.

the legacy of the last government is that the country is in far better shape than those looney tune governments in the late 90's who bankrolled bangkok and thailand to such massive debts through the local banks that mr soros saw the future decline of the economy and betted on the thai baht.

which in turn bankrupted the country and sent shockwaves through asia.

THIS NEVER HAPPENED UNDER THE LAST GOVERNMENT.

i would love to have a good guess as to the outcome of the poll in all the provinces of thailand or even after 12 months but my comments will probably have a private message warning me on my conduct

um

a very interesting next 12 months for thailand

i wonder how the abac poll will read in 12 months time?

to mr victor meldrew et al

The five rail routes are an extension of the Blue Line from Bang Sue to Hua Lamphong, the Purple Line from Bang Yai to Bang Sue, the Red Line from Rangsit to Bang Sue, the Green Line from Bangwa to Saphan Mai, and the Light Green Line from Prannok to Samut Prakan.

taken from the nation newspaper business section as of today 9-11-06

sounds a little like an incident in soi 10 sukhumvit a few years back

it will be interesting to know what part of the market they decided to use mob rule, as now jj market is so vast covering so many sections on each side of the road.

yes you can blame the muslim forces around the world.

even in 1999/2000 there were muslim groups wanting a nation of islam from southern thailand,, covering all of indonesia, malaysia, singapore and south of manilla in the phillipines to be a seperate autonomy islam state.

the troubles in the south of thailand are not just a local issue in my oppinion.

people can blame poverty, racism, poor education, unemployment. But these factors are in every country in the world.

what disgusts me most about the islam nation in the south is how they target the budhists and the monks providing an atmosphere of fear and dread. budhism has not caused the problems in the south. the budhist religion accomodates other religions unlike islam.

and didnt the major troubles in the south of thailand happen during the iraqi war along with other troubles around the world between muslims and other religions?

i have seen how islam has destroyed communities in the uk, it is a more viscious attack that they now use in thaland.

you can never negotiate with islam

i applaud the new governement for this gesture of peace to the south of thailand

i only hope the muslim forces from around the world behind the insurgents will want to negotiate a peacefull solution.

islam has very rarely recognised peacefull solutions in the past 1000 years.

this just seems a response to the american teacher who was arrested for the murder of the us schoolgirl in thailand.

I cannot believe that so many of you are welcoming this new regulation.

if you pay large fees for your kids in thailand you will always get teachers with degrees and background checks who in turn will be paid 50k to 90k a month for a salary

but at the same time those teachers with degrees are not crazy enough to come to thailand and work 6 days a week for 30k a month and no way will the thais pay more and more a month at the bottom end of the market.

there are very few thai teachers who can master the english language, as most thais who can are well to do and from wealthy families for whom will never take up a teaching post.

everyone welcomes better quality teaching, but is it practical to do it this way?

and how much cost is involved for the amount of man hours to do a background check on every teaching post for the thai government?