Thailand

• Thailand, Myanmar to twin provinces – Thailand and Myanmar will sign three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to foster a closer relationship between their key bordering provinces when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha begins his official visit to the country’s western neighbour today. (Bangkok Post, 09/10/14)
• Drought fears overseas spur rice orders from Thailand – Alarmed over the deteriorating drought situation, many countries have placed orders for Thai rice to secure sufficient stocks for consumption next year. (The Nation, 09/10/14)
• World Bank revises Thailand’s growth to 1.5% – Despite rising hopes stemming from the Bt324.5bn stimulus measures, Thailand’s economy this year is projected to grow by only 1.5% due to the slow recovery in domestic consumption and exports, says the World Bank. (Bangkok Post, 07/10/14)

• Ministry of Finance will revise GDP again on the 30th of October. It says growth will be less than 2%, but higher than the World Bank estimate of 1.5%. (Daily News, 07/10/14)
• Government okays mechanism to protect new rice harvest prices. It has ordered the BAAC and commercial banks to lend to farmers and millers to keep their inventories. The government wants them to keep 22m of the 27mn tonnes of rice produced as inventory for a short period of time to stabilize prices. (Krungtep Thurakij, 07/10/14)
• NRC members set tone for reforms – Members of the 250-strong National Reform Council yesterday vowed to perform their new jobs in earnest and suggested ideas for reforming the country in the areas of their responsibility. (The Nation, 07/10/14)
• Private Institute Association forecasts injection of Bt100bn into the economy this year, however it is not certain exports will meet the projected contraction of 1%. It said that the spending for rail development should be in a range of Bt1.34trn. (Krungtep Thurakij, 08/10/14)
• PM hopes the Bt1,000 per rai to rice farmers will proceed smoothly. He is concerned over issues with land ownership and rice farmers who do not own the land they farm. Currently the government is trying to find a solution to this. (Post Today, 08/10/14)
  Four laws to be passed before 2015. These include but are not limited to the Inheritance Tax, Property Fund law, land tax and laws concerning the digital economy. (Krungtep Thurakij, 08/10/14)
• Revenue Department sees some liquidity issues regarding spending in early 2015 budget year as 2014 revenue is likely to fall short of target. However the Ministry of Finance said it is looking at the possibility of tapping into the Thai Khem Khang Fund. (Kom Chud Luek, 08/10/14)
• ‘Best time for cooperation’ – With a military government in charge, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said this was the best time for Thailand and Myanmar to forge cooperation for mutual benefit in terms of security and economic interests. (The Nation, 10/10/14)
• BoT confident economic reform will take shape, and infrastructure projects will attract FDI. It remains optimistic on consumption and investments. The SET is wary of fund inflows. It said foreigners are slightly concerned by the current valuation. (Krungtep Thurakij, 10/10/14)
• Few SMEs have capacity for business abroad; Survey finds only 0.4% could venture across borders as AEC approaches – Most Thai small and medium-sized enterprises have the competency to do business in their local markets, but fewer than 1% have ability to do business outside the country, according to a survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce(UTCC). (The Nation, 10/10/14)

Global

• France: In its third and final estimate for France’ quarterly growth, Bank of France (BdF), the central bank, on Wednesday kept unchanged French economic forecast at 0.2 percent for the July-September period. (Xinhua, 08/10/14)
• Crude stockpiles added 5 million barrels to 361.7 million barrels, beating market’s expectation of an increase of 2 million barrels. (Xinhua, 08/10/14)
• China’s mortgage easing to benefit developers: Moody’s – China’s easing of mortgage lending terms will benefit property developers but the negative outlook for the housing sector will remain, U.S. rating agency Moody’s said Monday. (Xinhua, 06/10/14)
• EU quarterly review shows economic recovery still fragile – The European Union (EU) economic recovery remains frail and future employment developments are as yet uncertain, according to the European Commission’s latest quarterly review on employment released Monday. (Xinhua, 06/10/14)
• IMF lowers world growth forecasts for 2014, 2015 – In its updated economic outlook, the IMF expects the global economy to grow 3.3% in 2014 and 3.8% in 2015, down 0.1 percentage point and 0.2 percentage points from its July’s forecasts, respectively. (Xinhua, 07/10/14)
• U.S. job openings hit highest level since 2001 – Job openings were at a seasonally adjusted 4.835 million compared with a downwardly revised 4.605 million in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey on Tuesday. Job openings are used to measure labor demand. (Reuters, 07/10/14)
• BOJ keeps policy steady but warns of weak production after tax hike – The Bank of Japan on Tuesday kept its monetary policy steady, saying the Japanese economy is recovering despite the fallout from the consumption tax hike in April, but it downgraded its assessment of industrial output which has slowed amid weak household spending. (Kyodo, 07/10/14)
• German industrial output dives 4% in August – The fall was the biggest since early 2009 and was far sharper than the 1.5% drop expected. (BBC, 07/10/14)