realfunster

The banks work on a spread from the BOT base rate, so I don’t see why they would be against lowering the BOT base rates ? They will get their +3% spread whether base rates are 1%, 3% or 5%. In fact, they will prefer lower rates as that increases the amount of lending in the market = more loans to get the spread on = more revenue.

That might be part of it but lenders could/should introduce more stringent checks. No point punishing everyone with high interest rates as some people default on loans. The market will work its magic - if you lend recklessly- you shall receive your comeuppance. Anyway, the economy has been in a coma for a decade, massively underperforming regional peers. Something drastic needs to be done.

These numbers are a couple of years old but you get the picture. Whatever your political stance, one must admit there is something to be evaluated further for the US in terms of their trade/diplomatic strategy with Thailand going forward. I wonder if the average Thai is aware we are running a huge trade deficit with our friends in China. What advantages does that bring to Thailand ? High quality submarines by the year 2050 ?

Just to give the other side of the coin, I’ve only eaten it once and I suffered an extreme gut infection which put me in hospital for a night ! I’ll spare everyone the graphic details. 🤐

The Thai authorities appear to have dragged their heels on Chinese criminal gangs. There were numerous reports during COVID times of undesirables settling in, away from Chinese COVID restrictions. Here we are several years later and it's apparent that the undesirables either haven't left or have spread the word that Thailand is a comfortable base for criminal operations. It's going to take a long and concerted effort to get this under control. Wouldn't be surprised to see more Chinese authorities getting involved, bit like the Chinese Minister who recently marched into the Burmese border town with the scam operations.

In this thread's case, I'm torn between which is the most tiresome, xenophobia in Thailand or AI created news copy resembling a thesaurus.

There was a related but broader article I read somewhere today comparing Thai GDP growth to regional neighbours. Very weak performance over the 2022-24 period compared to SG/VN and Indonesia. It indicated that some are already revising down the forecast 2025 growth from 3.0% to 2.8%. This remains well below key neighbours/peers. There is a helluva lot of work to be done to get the economic growth really moving in the right direction.

Irrespective of whether Thais should or should not be allowed in Thai casinos, the Thai bureaucracy confirming (yet again) with this announcement, their complete lack of critical thinking skills.

I know where you are coming from but I do like an annual visit to Japan, I don't want to have to deal with the Chinese hordes both home & away !

Well done TAT. Outstanding. Quite amusing that Japan, having only a grudging interest in attracting tourists has overtaken Thailand's annual visitor figures already. They even attracted more Chinese for Golden Week than Thailand, despite the wintery/cold weather in many areas. Difficult one, can't say less Chinese tours in Thailand is a loss but I also like visiting Japan...

The OP prompted me, as a tea drinker, to do a little digging. Apparently, the Thai tea I regularly consume gains its famous orange hue from food colourings. No great surprise there. The label for 👍 tea (if you know, you know) shows "INS110" as an ingredient = sunset yellow additive, as mentioned in the OP. If you buy Thai tea in the EU, the sunset yellow additive is removed and so, it is a standard tea colour. This is due to some EU concerns over INS110 and the "activity and attention of children". Maybe our future will be non-orangey Thai tea...

I hadn't really considered restrictions on aircraft parts/maintenance as part of the wider Ukraine related sanctions. You might reasonably think that is an accident just waiting to happen....

Indeed, as I recall she received a 5 year ban from running any charity due to financial mismanagement. Perhaps that’s why she is now touting herself in countries where such matters are not taken so seriously and the photo-op is more important

Thank you AOT. I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across a smoking room in the new satellite terminal a few months back, not very well signposted at the time but it is there.

As I commented on yet another child drowning last week - just look yet again at the dangerous pond design used. Good swimmer or not, for a wet dog or person getting out of that PVC lined pool with steep and slippery sides is going to be a problem. Fatigue sets in and under you go. I wish they would launch a public service announcement with some basic (non-expensive) guidance on how not to make your water retention pond a complete deathtrap for both people and animals...put in stepped (or at least non vertical) sides when digging, have a safety line anchored somewhere etc etc.

You are aware that neither Airbus nor Boeing actually manufacture the engines that sit on their airframes ?

Well then, you may be interested in recent news (from a well known Thai language news site with an English version) that has CCTV of her and her husband illegally entering an Italian man’s condo, roughing him up, tying him up and forcing him to transfer GBP 25k.

Talk about deflection off the topic… I am delighted to hear this news, they should never have been taken captive in the first place. Assuming all goes to plan, they are very lucky to be making it back in one piece.

Wonderful. With the subsidised free public transport in BKK and acquiring masks to handle the air quality issues, enough government budget to provide xx% as defensible benefits to the power brokers. Reduce government and nationalise where possible, get the pigs away from the trough.

Yes, and I wonder how many of those actually switched from cars or were they just taking advantage of the free ride ? You would expect more of the latter ..?

Latter point - agreed. First point - how about some public advice on how not to construct ponds that are effectively deathtraps e.g putting in a stepped banking?

Oh FFS, just get rid of the damn thing. Total waste of time, resources and money. One step forward in suspending TM6 last year, now two steps back.

Hmm - seems odd, the turkeys are voting for Christmas ? Things must be bad.

Hmm - wouldn't agree with this, I work in a professional field and the standard is OK but reasonably below Europe. That shouldn't really be too surprising. Reasons ? A fairly weak educational system and wider systemic issues. I've had some shockers with both dentists and doctors here in Thailand. Thankfully nothing that has cost my health (yet) but certainly some money and time. At face value, parts of Thailand, especially Bangkok, are actually reasonably well developed in terms of infrastructure and technology but if you scratch beneath the surface.... Not meant to be negative but factual, Thailand is what it is - a developing country with all the pros and cons that entails.

Yawn - bored of whining Dems on here and the internet in general. You were up against Satan reincarnated (in your mind) and still couldn't win - how useless does that make you. You'd be better advised to take a long, hard look in the mirror and rationally assess why you lost to Beezlebub. When doing this exercise, try hard to avoid apportioning any blame to the "ignorance and stupidity of voters" and concentrate on self-analysis.