BUSINESS NEWS
HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Buyers urged not to delay home purchases

Electronic bidding for government contracts

Economists concerned about widening income gap

Stiff competition for banking next year

Marine breeders urged to reduce stock due to drought

FPO decreases economic growth estimate

Plan to set up military industrial estate

Thumbs down for increase in credit card amount

Rush to deal with stockpiled chicken

More job creation needed in troubled South

Thai exports to China show signs of slowdown

“I will come back to Thailand, whatever it takes”

Buyers urged not to delay home purchases

Prospective buyers should rush to make a decision on a home purchase before housing prices edge up in the same direction of fuel prices, according to property developers and bank executives.

Speaking at a seminar on “How to Opt to Buy House on Upward Interest Trend,” Chaiyan Chakornkul, executive chairman of Lalil Property Plc, said interest rates are likely to increase marginally by around 1 percent. He said the Bank of Thailand signaled an upward interest trend by decreasing the portion of US dollar-denominated international reserve. He noted that interest rates in Thailand need not to move in the same direction of the US interest rates because the country’s financial liquidity remains as high as 500-600 billion baht.

According to Chaiyan, entrepreneurs will not be adversely affected if interest rate costs edged up by 1 percent. What should be of concern was the floatation of diesel oil prices because it could increase costs of property developers particularly those of transportation, he cautioned. However, he projected that the property business would continue to grow with housing loans set to expand around 15-20 percent next year, while the demand for housing units would be 62,000-65,000 units worth around 300 billion baht. With this in mind, he advised home buyers not to delay their purchase since interest rates are still currently low. Housing units offered for sale now were constructed before steel prices rose by 31 percent, he added. (TNA)


Electronic bidding for government contracts

From the start of next year the government will use an electronic system for contract bids in order to reduce corruption in the government’s procurement process. “A process of electronic bidding will be used first to select contractors for the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology’s cellular phone CDMA network. The e-bidding system should help reduce corruption in the government procurement system because it will make it transparent,” government spokesman Jakrapob Pemkair said.

This scheme is part of the government’s war against corruption launched several months ago. (TNA)


Economists concerned about widening income gap

The private think-tank, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has voiced concerns about the widening gap between rich and poor in the country over the past two decades. The situation is now almost similar to the shattered economies of Latin America, TDRI chief, Chalongpop Susungkornkarn, told the participants at the TDRI’s annual conference, ‘Looking Back and Gazing Forward: 20 years of Economic and Social Development’.

The TDRI chief said “In the past may people may not have felt the pinch, but now the gap is getting bigger, and if it continues to grow it could result in social conflict. The government-sponsored Ua Arthorn projects are not sustainable measures. In fact there are more disadvantages than benefits from the scheme. The government should introduce tax measures to control the economy and social conditions.”

“The Thai economy should grow at an average of 5-7% over the next 20 years, a growth rate comparable to developed countries,” Chalongpop said.

But according to TDRI projections, there are problems ahead for Thailand. Several external factors, including the volatility of foreign exchange rates and trade competition — expected to become even fiercer in future – and domestic issues, a massive switch from the farming sector to industry and a fall in the quality of Thai education, will all pose challenges to the country in the future.

The advisor for the Fiscal Policy Research Institute, Narongchai Akaraserani, added that he expected international trade relations to become more complex in the future. (TNA)


Stiff competition for banking next year

Competition in Thailand’s banking business will intensify next year although the country’s economy will grow at a slower pace, according to a top executive of Kasikorn Bank Public Company Limited (KBANK).

Prasarn Trairatanavorakul, the bank’s president, said that local commercial banks will have more difficulty running their businesses due to the economic slowdown, persistent southern violence, and the appreciation of the baht. He said the baht had strengthened against the US dollar because the US was in huge deficits of trade and current account balances. “Should the dollar continue to weaken, it will affect the US capital market and other capital markets around the globe,” he cautioned.

Prasarn said the country’s export sector could be affected if the baht continues to strengthen. “A weakened export sector will eventually affect Thailand’s overall economy if the local currency is allowed to further appreciate since the export and import sectors account for around 70% of the country’s gross domestic product,” he said.

Prasarn said KBANK had set a target for loan growth of 7% next year. The bank has also targeted a reduction in non-performing loans to less than 5% of the outstanding loans in the next two years, from 9% in the third quarter of this year. (TNA)


Marine breeders urged to reduce stock due to drought

Thailand’s marine industry is the latest casualty of the severe drought that has hit the country. Marine life farmers have been urged to suspend their breeding operations because of the drought, according to government officials.

“Government officers are closely monitoring the drought situation and have been instructed to give assistance to marine breeders who are suffering, including water pumps and other equipment,” said the director general of the Fisheries Department, Sitdhi Boonyaratpalin.

“Breeders have not reported any damage as yet, but they have been instructed to use the minimum water necessary to raise their marine life and are being urged to sell the larger stock in their ponds,” said Sitdhi. Moving marine life to other ponds is not advisable as it would affect their eating habits and growth, he added. (TNA)


FPO decreases economic growth estimate

The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) has revised its economic growth estimate for this year downward to 6.3% from 6.5-7% projected earlier due to unfavorable factors. Naris Chaiyasutr, the FPO’s director-general, disclosed that the economy next year was projected to expand 6.1%, close to the expected growth level this year. Major factors that could boost economic growth include state spending on several mega investment projects, improved export and service, and the continued increase in private consumption, he noted.

“Risk factors that could deter the economic expansion include hefty crude oil prices, upward interest rates on the world market, economic slowdown in China, the recurrence of avian flu, and southern violence,” Naris pointed out. He said the country’s export value next year was likely to increase 8.6% to US$102.4 billion, while the import value to rise 12.5% to US$105.2 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US$2.8 billion.

Product items that enjoy the high export include electronics and electrical appliances, while those imported mostly are capital goods, raw materials and oil. (TNA)


Plan to set up military industrial estate

The Ministry of Industry has come up with an innovative idea – setting up a military industrial estate – in the central province of Lopburi with an aim to create value-added export products and to avoid a closure of the state-run, loss-making Tanning Organization. Industry Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal said he had ordered his ministry’s Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to consider establishing the military industrial estate within the military barracks in which private businessmen may be invited to co-invest in the project which would produce military related products including uniforms, food and weapons.

The objective of the project is to upgrade the competitiveness of military products in which large quantities of them are now exported by Thailand. Pongsak said that a further study is needed to avoid any problems since production would be made inside military installations. (TNA)


Thumbs down for increase in credit card amount

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has turned down a request by credit card issuers for an increase in credit amount to five times the monthly salary.

Samart Buranawatanachokr, senior director of the BOT’s Financial Institutions Policy Group, said the central bank had disagreed with the request made by the Credit Card Association because it was still worried about debt repayment prospect and mounting debt burdens of credit card holders. He said the BOT had agreed to allow commercial banks to offer advance cash to credit card debtors on the condition that the debtors make all payment of the advance amount when it was due. He added that the central bank had allowed customers of non-bank financial institutions to pledge fixed deposits as collateral for loans. However, the financial institutions must assess financial status of debtors based on the same standard risk evaluation adopted by commercial banks. (TNA)


Rush to deal with stockpiled chicken

Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang has ordered the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance to join with chicken exporters to find urgent measures to deal with Thailand’s stockpile of 200,000 tons of chicken products, while conceding that the Ministry of Finance would not be able to act as a guarantor for chicken farmers.

Chaturon said that the Ministry of Commerce had also been asked to engage in urgent negotiations with Japan to encourage Japanese inspectors to examine Thai chicken processing plants.

The Ministry of Finance, meanwhile, has been asked to negotiate with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to provide loans to chicken farmers, which would enable them to introduce the closed farming methods which are vital to prevent further outbreaks of the avian flu pandemic. (TNA)


More job creation needed in troubled South

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Wan Muhamad Noor Matha has ordered his officials to speed up the government’s job creation program in Thailand’s three troubled southern provinces.

Wan Noor has been frustrated by the lack of progress made by several government agencies on plans to create new jobs in the country’s three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. The minister is anxious that plans be implemented by March next year. He said some projects had not been approved because there were too many duplications and lack of clarity and they must be reviewed again and completed before March.

The government is also encouraging farmers in the three provinces to grow oil palm trees. It plans to have trees grown covering around 100,000 rai within the next year. (TNA)


Thai exports to China show signs of slowdown

Increasing competition from newly industrialized nations is causing a slowdown in the growth rate of Thai exports to China, a leading research center has warned in a recent report.

Describing China, with its huge population and rapid economic growth rate, as the motor of the global and regional economies, the Kasikorn Research Center (KRC) said that Thailand had hugely benefited from China’s soaring economic expansion. Nonetheless, the report noted that in comparison with other countries in the region, the rate of Thai export growth to China was relatively low. Moreover, Thai goods are facing increasing competition from newly industrialized nations in Asia and from other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

While the rate of Thai export growth to China was likely to face a slowdown, Chinese goods were continuing to flow into Thailand at an increasing rate, the report said, noting that Thailand was reliant on Chinese raw materials for its manufacturing sector, while at the same time Thailand is being flooded with cheap Chinese consumer goods. The report called on Thailand’s manufacturing sector to transform the nation into a production base for components to feed into Chinese industries, while developing the quality of Thai products and logistics systems in order to ensure sustainable export growth to China. (TNA)


“I will come back to Thailand, whatever it takes”

A story of courage, perseverance, and hope

Sue K.

When German tourist Jens Maspfuhl came to Thailand in November last year, he had no idea what this country had to offer him except nice golf courses and restaurants. He also had no idea that he was about to encounter an incident that would change his life forever, for better or for worse.

Jens has great praise for the care he received from the staff at Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital. “They took care of me with feelings, with heart.”

Jens ran two well-known nightclubs in Germany for over 18 years, one in Frankfurt and one in Hamburg. When the Hamburg branch promised him only loss, he decided to forsake it. Luck was on his side. He not only was able to sell the business, but also received a huge profit in the process.

A golfer at heart, Jens and his two friends Stefan and Thomas opted to leave the cold winter in Germany and come to Thailand. It was going to be his first vacation in his life that would last three full weeks, or so he thought.

Within the first six days they all fell in love with the land of warmth and smiles. After testing most of the courses around Pattaya, they decided to venture farther out, in the direction of Rayong and Chanthaburi.

Lost and thirsty, half way to nowhere, they decided to stop for a drink and ask for directions. Jens walked back to the car to get his belongings, and when he stepped out of the car on the driver side again, looking on his left as normal Germans would do back home, a hard object at an extreme high speed hit him from the back. The impact jerked his neck and threw him off balance. Though conscious, Jens couldn’t feel anything on his body. Local people helped him into an ambulance heading to a local hospital, but Jens insisted to go to Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital. Without neck support, friend Stefan held Jens’ head throughout the 1 ฝ hour trip back to Pattaya.

When Jens learned of the new Para Golfer wheelchair, his first thought was, “I will play golf again.” And he has.

The operation Jens went through lasted six and a half hours. The fractured seventh vertebrae had pierced the spinal cord. The operation was successful, but Jens remains paralyzed from the chest down. He was in ICU for one week and stayed on another week to recover, after which he then went back to Germany to undergo physical therapy for another six months.

When he reached the hospital back home, German doctors couldn’t believe Jens was the patient they were expecting. He was high spirited and energetic. Surgeons there discovered that the operation performed on Jens was flawless.

Within the next two months, Jens already decided that he wanted to come back to Thailand. His friends called him nuts to want to come back here again after the tragedy.

Jens looked at it differently. “The first six days in Thailand last year gave me so much happiness; the people are friendly, the food is good, and the climate is excellent. The accident should have deterred my thinking, but instead, it gave me even more motivation to come back,” he said.

“The care I received at the hospital here was indescribable. The surgeon did a great job, while Dr. Alongkorn carried out the rest of the task of therapy with great expertise. Doctors here are as competent as any good doctors in Germany, and the nurses are to be praised. They took care of me with feelings, with heart. This is what patients like me need desperately. All the staff are friendly, and Monika Rottmann from their international department took care of my insurance papers immediately,” Jens said.

Jen’s continued, “Six months in a German hospital gave me a very clear comparison on service. There they are efficient, but they treat you like a piece of meat. You are just a source of their income. For example, someone who is paralyzed like me needs to be turned every 4 hours while lying in the bed. Well, you do get turned but with a grumpy face and groaning voice. One time, I wanted to get up, but was so afraid to ring the bell to call a nurse that I tried to move myself, resulting in a fall off the bed. All the nurses came in after the thundering sound I made, and blamed me for not calling them. That was when I promised to myself that “Thailand … I’ll be back!”

This time Jens came back still paralyzed from the chest down, but not immobilized. Back home he met up with Anthony Netto, a golf pro, who invented a Para Golfer wheelchair to aid his own paralysis. It’s called the Standup Wheelchair.

Para Golfer was heaven-sent for Jens. Designed like a lawn mower, it has all the turning and moving functions. A chest strap enables him to use his arms to push himself up to a standing position. The first thought that came to his mind was, “I will play golf again.”

Nothing could stop him now - six months of disciplined physical therapy had paid off. Almost one year to the day after the accident and Jens is back in Thailand.

Staying at the Diana Driving Range and Resort, he found this to be an ideal place for him. There are 7 rooms, equipped for handicapped people, on the ground floor not far from the reception, in case help is needed. The staff is very friendly and understanding. And to make his happiness complete, they even have a driving range to satisfy his cravings. What more can you ask for!

Jens plans to visit the School for the Handicapped in Pattaya this week, to meet people, to encourage and to motivate them on how much more they can do in their lives if they put their minds to it.

“Accidents may happen anywhere in the world, there’s no telling, but a place and people like in Thailand can be found here and only here,” Jens declared.

If you want to know more about Jens, his web site is: www.jens-maspfuhl.de