Myanmar here I come!
Off to Myanmar for the weekend, hopefully will learn something new and that’s not reported in the media. Posts will be sparse!
Read More →Category: Special Events
Commentary on special events in Thailand and the SET Index.
California WOW – Have they just figured out it’s a scam?
I’m actually a member of this fitness chain, why? Because it’s incredibly cheap and I know value where I see it!! But my membership cost me THB 10k up front and after 3 years an annual payment of THB 3,000 (this was negotiated back in 2009) we knew that this company wouldn’t be able to […]
Read More →Thai State Pension Fund to Acquire U.S., Europe Properties
Its not often we get to read about Thailand in a non-negative way on Bloomberg. The Thai Government Pension Fund has decided to begin investing in assets in both the US and Europe. Just further evidence that Thailand no longer only looks inward. “The stagnate economic environment in the U.S. and Europe offers a great opportunity for […]
Read More →Myanmar: The Next Economic Frontier in Asia
Another great writeup by my friend Roger Lee Huang who’s doing his thesis on Myanmar. Major changes are currently taking place in Myanmar. In little over a year, the nominally civilian government under President Thein Sein has introduced a series of liberal reforms leading to rapprochement with the West. The re-engagement with the broader international […]
Read More →SEC agrees on reforms
The Thai SEC looks to push forward with its plans to liberalise the brokerage industry within Thailand. I found two comments made interesting: “It’s time to move forward … We will not limit the number of brokerage licences and we will scrap the minimum commission fees,” Dr Vorapol said. Consequence of this? Any brokerage with […]
Read More →March Inflation numbers are in and up! Surprised?
Ok first the figures: The Ministry of Commerce reported March inflation at 3.45% YoY, increasing from 3.35%YoY in February. On a monthly basis, the March CPI surged for a third month by 0.59% MoM. The key inflation drivers remained the food and energy categories; as food and beverage prices (33% of the CPI basket) increased […]
Read More →Interest rates unchanged in Thailand
Last week the Bank of Thailand (BOT) announced that it would keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.00%. This follows 25-bp cuts each in November and January previously. Now I’ve mentioned this before, the BOT will not increase interest rates UNTIL they see the economic figures for Thailand improving and this will not be the […]
Read More →Myanmar drafts new foreign investment rules
Foreigners will no longer need a local partner to set up businesses in Myanmar and may be granted a five-year tax holiday from the start of commercial operations, according to the draft of a new investment law obtained by Reuters. This is a very big step ahead.  Together with reform of the FX law, this moves […]
Read More →Thai banks to receive cheap funding from the BOT
So this is why banks have continued to remain strong in the market… Local papers reported that the BOT will offer THB 210 bn to Thai banks at a rate of 0.01% that will be meant for clients affected by the 4Q11 flooding. Local banks estimated that their clients require THB 366 bn in loans […]
Read More →Telcos to pay less for 3G
Local newspapers reported that Col Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC’s telecom committee, said that the reserve price for 3G licenses (2.1GHz spectrum) is likely to be set in the Bt7-10bn range. The defunct NTC’s 3G Information Memorandum (IM) had set a reserve price of Bt12.8bn. The committee is working on a new 3G IM, […]
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