Thailand

• Deputy PM asks for faster budget disbursement – Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, a Deputy Prime Minister, has expressed his concern over an incomplete distribution of the financial assistance to rice and rubber farmers, which might affect the efficiency of the government’s economic stimulus package. (NNT, 12/11/14)
• Public Debt to GDP – The PDMO has reported the country’s public debt to GDP was at 46.46% of GDP in August. (IQ Biz, 12/11/14)
• TCG missed target – The Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG) has reported that it missed its new credit guarantee target by Bt30bn this year. (Thai Post, 13/11/14)
• Inheritance bill likely to be passed by NLA – Heirs who are not offspring will be levied 5-35% on their personal income tax for all inherited assets, while offspring will be subject to 10% inheritance tax on bequests above Bt50mn and 5% gift tax on bequests above Bt10mn. (Bangkok Post, 11/10/14)
• MoC has set 5.9% growth target for exports to AEC next year. (Thai Post, 10/11/14)
• Special economic zones at borders – MoT will submit a plan to develop 5 special economic zone between Thailand and its neighbours to the PM for approval. (Thai Post, 10/11/14)

Globally

• U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.3% in September from the prior month, beating market expectations, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. (Xinhua, 13/11/14)
• Eurozone industrial production up by 0.6% in September – Seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.6% in September from last month in both the eurozone and the European Union (EU), according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. (Xinhua, 12/11/14)
• Hong Kong loosens renminbi exchange curb – Chan Tak-Lam, chief executive of the HKMA, said in a statement that having regard to the development of the offshore RMB market in Hong Kong and the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Authorized Institutions (AIs) may conduct RMB currency conversions with Hong Kong residents without applying limits. (Xinhua, 12/11/14)
• Five banks agreed Wednesday to pay a total of about US$3.3bn to U.S., British and Swiss regulators to resolve allegations that they tried to manipulate the vast foreign-exchange market. (WSJ, 12/11/14)
• Economists cut forecast of Japan’s July-Sept. GDP to 2.47% – Japan’s economy is projected to have grown an annualized 2.47% in real terms in the July to September quarter from a year earlier, an independent research institute said Wednesday, cutting its forecast from a 3.66% expansion. (Kyodo News, 12/11/14)
• Japan gov’t debt at ¥1,038.9trn at end of September – Japan’s central government debt stood at ¥1,038.9trn (US$9.11trn) at the end of September, slightly down from the record high of ¥1,039.4trn three months earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday. (Kyodo News, 10/11/14)
• China signs RMB business MoU with Malaysia – The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), China’s central bank, announced on Monday that it has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on renminbi clearing with the central bank of Malaysia. Malaysia, China’s largest trade partner in Southeast Asia, has been active in promoting the use of renminbi in cross-border trade and investment. (Xinhua, 10/11/14)
• China spends less on imports amid falling commodity prices – Price slumps in the global commodity market continued to allow China to spend less while importing more, helping China save on enormous import bills, latest customs data showed. In the first ten months of this year, China imported 252.6 million tonnes of crude oil, an increase of 9.2% from a year earlier, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Saturday. (Xinhua, 10/11/14)
• Italian industrial production down in September – Istat said industrial production in all sectors was down 2.9% in September compared to the same month last year, and fell 0.9% compared to August. (Xinhua, 11/11/14)
  The U.S. economy added 214,000 new jobs in October, lower than the revised-up 256,000 in September and below economists’ expectations, but the fresh figure was in line with the average monthly gain of 222,000 over the prior 12 months, the Labor Department said Friday. (Xinhua, 8/11/14)
• APEC sketches out roadmap for FTAAP in Beijing – Ministers of the APEC members agreed to “launch and comprehensively and systemically push forward the FTAAP process,” China’s Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said at a press conference on Saturday. When established, the FTAAP would be one of the largest FTA in the world, covering about half of global economy and trade. (Xinhua, 10/11/14)
• China’s exports rise 11.6% in Oct – China’s exports rose 11.6% year on year to hit US$206.87bn in October, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). (Xinhua, 10/11/14)
• Britain’s trade deficit widens to £2.8bn in Sept – British deficit on trade in goods and services was estimated to have been £2.8bn (US$4.43bn) in September, significantly more than the £1.8bn recorded a month earlier, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Friday. (Xinhua, 7/11/14)