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BOT lays down new credit card regulations
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has announced a tough new set
of regulations to protect consumers from credit card debts, requiring banks
to ensure that their customers’ bank deposits are at least equal to their
credit limit. The new rules became effective 1st of April. BOT Governor
Pridiyathorn Devakula cited the new measures as benefiting consumers, while
at the same time clarifying the rules for credit card businesses.
Now credit cardholders must have monthly incomes of no
less than 15,000, baht and credit limits must not exceed bank deposits.
Credit card approvals will be determined by looking at customers’ bank
statements for the six months prior to application.
However, banks will be allowed to renew credit cards for
existing cardholders with monthly incomes of less than 15,000 baht if their
debt repayment record for the previous year has been satisfactory.
At the same time, the minimum rate of repayment has been
raised from five percent of total outstanding debts to 10 percent. This
regulation will be enforced for new cardholders from 1 April this year, and
for existing cardholders from 1 April 2008.
Commercial banks will also be required to follow BOT
regulations for the transfer of credit card debts, and will be prevented
from granting a credit limit which is over five times the cardholder’s
average monthly income. (TNA)
South Korea resumes imports of Thai chicken products
South Korea has resumed its imports of Thai chicken
products, as the Thai kingdom is poising to declare itself as a bird
flu-free nation soon. Seoul’s decision to resume its purchase of Thai
chicken products followed a similar move of several other poultry importers,
as Thailand’s avian flu situation has remain stable for the past weeks
with no new reports of confirmed or suspected cases of the virus according
to the Department of Disease Control. The good news was announced last week
by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. (TNA)
Australia gives green light to Thai fruit
Thai fruit farmers are celebrating after Australia gave
the green light to begin imports of Thai lychees and longans, which sailed
through recent Australian safety inspections.
The Australian move, announced by a senior official from
the Department of International Trade, will enable Thailand to export
lychees and longans to Australia in line with the Free Trade Area (FTA)
arrangement between the two countries.
Thailand has long lobbied Australia to begin imports of
these fruits, which Canberra had previously claimed posed a risk in term of
agricultural pests. Australia’s agreement to import these fruits from
Thailand is a clear indication that cooperation under the term of the FTA
negotiations is now showing results.
Under the terms of the import regulations, the import of
these two types of tropical fruit from Thailand will, nonetheless, be
stringently controlled, with the registration of farms and packaging plants,
the elimination of crop pests using steaming and other methods, and
inspections by the Department of Agricultural Extension.
The Ministry of Agriculture has called on Thai fruit
farmers to prepare for exports to Australia in order to take advantage of
the new regulations as soon as possible before China muscles in on the
Australian fruit market. (TNA)
Civil service pay increase to battle corruption
The Taksin government is convinced that two civil service
pay rises over the next five years could help raise living standards among
government workers and combat the nation’s culture of corruption.
Speaking publicly, the prime minister noted that the
government had raised civil service pay by 3 percent this year, with lower
ranking civil servants moving two rungs up the pay ladder, and higher
ranking civil servants gaining a twofold increase in pay for their
positions.
Conceding that lower ranking civil servants were poorly
paid, the prime minister said, “Government workers will probably remember
that when we arrived in office in March 2001, we told civil servants that
the country had not yet emerged from crisis, and that there were a huge
number of problems remaining to be solved.” Noting that the government had
been forced to pull the country out of economic crisis, and pay off debts to
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the prime minister reminded civil
servants of his pledge that once the crisis had passed, a pay rise was in
the offing. The 3 percent pay rise announced on April 1st represented the
first civil service pay rise in 10 years.
Describing civil servants as important motors of national
economic development, Thaksin said that he intended to raise civil service
pay twice over the next five years in order to improve the quality of life
of government workers.
Acknowledging that the corruption endemic in the civil
service was partly a result of poor morale and low wages, the prime minister
said that the pay rises would help reduce this deep-seated problem. (TNA)
More agro products to be sold to offset oil prices
Thailand will try to sell more agricultural products to
international markets to earn more to offset higher oil costs over the coming
months, according to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
While on a working visit to the central province of
Ratchaburi Thaksin announced that his administration will try to boost prices
of Thai farm products on the world market to offset current rising oil prices.
“As one example, now exports of Thai rubber reach about two million tons
annually. So, we should try to increase exports of Thai rubber with a higher
price,” he said.
Questions are being asked about the government’s
preparedness in dealing with anticipated higher oil prices in the world market
following the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s
decision earlier this month to cut its oil production by one million barrel a
day to 23.5 million, from 24.5 million, being effective as of the 1st of
April.
Thaksin predicted that gasoline prices will begin to drop
in March, particularly diesel, due to lower demand in Europe as winter ends,
and the US is expected to push OPEC to increase its oil outputs. While he has
promised to keep an eye on OPEC’s latest move, the prime minister urged that
Thai people save energy and reduce oil consumption.
The government needs to maintain its oil subsidy program to
cap gasoline prices in the domestic market at the current levels for an
extended period to control local prices of consumers’ products. (TNA)
Investors warned not to panic over southern violence
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s President
Kittirat Na Ranong warned investors not to panic over the latest wave of
violence in the southern region, saying it was unlikely to have any adverse
effect, as the market had already absorbed it. He said most investors had
adopted a wait and see strategy, and were ready to return to the market
immediately when the violence began to ease. His optimism was shared by
stock analysts at leading brokerage houses.
Tawatchai Rungroeng, Assistant Vice president of ABN Amro
Asia Securities Plc, said the stock market had already absorbed the wave of
the violence, still, should the incidents spill out of areas of the three
southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, it would have a
negative effect on the market direction. He projected that the market would
continue to experience bearishness for a short run.
Sompong Benjathepanan, Vice President of Atkinson
Securities Plc’s Securities Analysis Division conceded that the southern
unrest worried some investors, and had impeded their investment decision.
Montri Sornpaisal, President of Kim Eng Securities Plc,
told investors to wait and see but conceded that the violence and the delay
in the privatization of state enterprises had undermined the investment
sentiment, but it had not had affected the basic fundamentals of the stock
market. (TNA)
Treasury department to mobilize funds for new government offices
The government is preparing to drum up 21 billion baht
through the sale of Treasury Department assets to investors in order to
construct new government offices in Bangkok’s suburbs.
Announcing the plans, Deputy Prime Minister Suchart
Jaovisidha said that a final meeting of the agencies involved in the
construction program would be held before the issue was put before the
cabinet next month.
Describing Treasury Department plans as ‘extremely
satisfactory’, Capt. Suchart said that the budget for the project would
come from the transformation of Treasury Department assets into debentures
for sale to investors. With returns over the first three years likely to be
as high as 7.5 percent, he predicted that the scheme would generate
widespread interest among investors and members of the general public.
Under the plans, the Treasury Department will establish a
company known as Thanarak Development, which will control and administer
Crown Property Land across the country. The Ministry of Finance, which will
hold a 100 percent stake in the company, will issue debentures or investment
units to the public in order to mobilize funding of 21.445 billion baht.
Of this, 19.016 billion will go towards construction
costs, while the rest will go towards other expenses such as land leasing.
Construction of the complex on Chaengwattana Road in northern Bangkok is
scheduled to begin next year, with completion slated for 2008. Income will
come from various sources, including the hiring out of conference facilities
and retail units. (TNA)
Incompetent employees to be weeded out of government positions
Strict measures are being introduced to manage and develop
the nation’s civil servants to further raise their efficiency, with those
evaluated to be inefficient, or grouped in the lowest level of efficiency of 5%
of each agencies to be targeted for either being sent for training, or being
forced to leave their jobs with a compensation of eight-month salaries, based
on their latest payrolls.
Those who are sent for a 6-month training course, and still
fail to meet the efficiency criteria, will also be fired with no compensation.
For those with physical or mental problems, their agencies will have to
consider and evaluate their efficiency with fairness, taking their
appropriateness to their duties, mandates, and performances into consideration,
and must only ask those who cannot meet their duties and mandate to leave their
jobs. (TNA)
Energy Ministry gears up for next 50 years
In a remarkable feat of forward planning, the Ministry of
Energy is preparing forecasts for energy consumption over the next 30-50 years,
which will be used to determine future energy policies. The 30 and 50-year
forecasts are being drawn up by the-Energy Policy and Planning Office, whose
initial estimates indicate that in 30 years time national energy consumption
could have soared by 300 percent from present levels.
Deputy Permanent Secretary for Energy Pornchai Rujiprapha
stressed that long-term forecasts were vital given the diminishing global
supplies of oil, with reserves expected to run dry within the next 70 years.
“As a result, it is necessary to accelerate exploring all kinds of energy
sources including oil, natural gas, coal, and other alternative energy in
preparation for the increasing demand”, he said.
The forecasts are scheduled for completion over the next
couple of weeks and then will be submitted to Energy Minister Prommin
Lertsuridej for further study. Pornchai said the energy ministry realizes the
importance of oil reserve management, and plans to seek reserves both locally
and overseas to accommodate demand as well as determining alternate sources of
energy. “The usefulness and worthiness of coal as an alternative power is
being studied. Giving the public a proper understanding of the pros and cons of
the use of the alternative power is, however, a top priority”, Pornchai said.
(TNA)
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