Capital from China is coming to Thailand

In July 2009, after Thai and Chinese businessmen met for a large-scale meeting in Pattaya, the Minister of Industry estimated 53 business conclusions, with networking arrangements amounting to 211,000 million baht and 9 memorandums of understanding (MOU); most significantly between Saha Farms Co., Ltd and New Hope Group, with a 7,000 million baht chicken farming investment with Saha Farms Co., Ltd., increasing their production capacity in processed export chicken from 500,000 to 1,000,000 chickens per day.

Rice-pledging, price support or?

A rice farmers’ support programme has featured in Thai newspaper headlines for many days now, and has become a controversial issue. While the government plans shifting to a price support programme, farmer rice price demonstrators demand that the government maintain a rice-pledging programme, along with a quota increase.

Thai government bonds and their impact on the Thai economy

The Thai government has only recently issued its first lot of savings bonds worth Bt 80,000 million, aimed for sale to senior citizens, with a second lot aimed for sale to general savers. The bonds have a maturity period of five years with a yield rate of 3% in the first two years, 4% in the third year and 5% in the fourth and fifth years. The value of the third lot of bonds, destined for sale to institute buyers, has not yet been concluded, though Thailand’s finance minister has revealed its yield rate to be less than those of lots one and two.

The innovation of IPR protection

According to US Special Report 301, 2008, Thailand is still on the Priority Watch List (PWL). To justify this, the US government explains that Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection by the Thai government is still weak. This situation pushed the Ministry of Commerce to show their “integrity and effort” by having nearly 100 officers rush to block the entrance and exit of Patphong Road to suppress piracy commerce. This action culminated in a fight between officers and pirated goods merchants in Patphong Road.

The Oil Tax Increase: An Analysis of "Untimeliness"

A recent government act amendment was immediately put into effect. The tax ceiling for oil excise was increased from Bt5/litre to Bt10/litre, with actual tax on oil excise increased Bt2/litre on average. This amendment, a counterweight to target-missing government revenue, will boost government revenue by Bt50,000 million per year, though in order to maintain the current oil price level, the government will also use Bt2 /litre from the oil fund in order to subsidize oil prices for one month – reflecting their highly prioritized drive for revenue, due to budget lack. However, I find this decision to be untimely for the following reasons:

Thailand’s Fiscal Sustainability Framework Appeases or Aggravates the Crisis?

The Thai cabinet resolution made on April 21st 2009, for government budget expenditure to be cut by 200 billion Baht in 2010, from a previous budget figure of 1.9 trillion Baht to a new sum of 1.7 trillion Baht, will reduce government expenditure by 1.835 trillion Baht in 2010 from its budget for 2009. The government explanation is that unless expenditure is cut, the more public debt must be borrowed, but that this will violate the Public Debt Management Act, BE 2548.

The Government’s Role to Promote Social Organizations

One major obstruction to social work in Thailand, especially when run by small, nascent and little known social welfare organizations, is their lack of access to funding, whether individually or organizationally sourced. This inaccessibility is partly caused by current regulations. For example, only foundations on the Ministry of Finance list are eligible for tax deductions; and only NGOs in operation for a minimum one year period are eligible for subsidization according to the Social Welfare Provision Act (BE 2546). Under such restrictive legislation, many social welfare organizations cannot access government support, and as a result, due to lagging efficiency and effectiveness, they shut down.