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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
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