Thailand

• Revenue falling short — The Ministry of Finance reports that revenue in the first six months of the tax year (Oct 13- Mar 14), tax revenue for the government was Bt964bn, missing the government target of Bt1.024tn. (Kao Sod, 16/04/14)
• Caution over household debt — Banks say household debt levels are worrisome, with forecasters pointing to household debt level of 84% of GDP in 2014. They are concerned that this will lead to a country credit rating cut, and of a domino effect from any possible policy rate increase. (Krungtep Thurakit, 15/04/14)
• Thailand sees lowest level of M&A activity on IBR survey – New research from the Grant Thornton “International Business Report” (IBR) indicates that global M&A activity – mergers and acquisitions – has risen from this time last year, but Thailand has fallen to the lowest level among all of the 44 countries surveyed. (The Nation, 17/04/14)
• UTCC warns that tourism, exports not enough to raise GDP — The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) sees s relatively good future for exporters and tourism industries, but warns that those industries will not be enough to lift GDP, as politics continues to affect consumption and investment. (Krungtep Thrurakit, 17/04/14)
• Thai Rice Exporters Associations raises 2014 rice exports target to 8.5-9mn tons as the government continues to release rice from its stockpiles. In the first two months of the year Thailand beat Vietnam as the world #2 rice exporter. (Kom Chat Leuk, 17/04/14)
• Interest rate change unlikely, MPC expected to keep its relaxed stance – Economists agree the Bank of Thailand is unlikely to change its policy interest rate at next Wednesday’s meeting. (Bangkok Post, 17/04/14)
• High-risk group: BoT — The chairman of the BoT says that households with monthly income of less than Bt15,000 is a high risk group for loan default, as household debt has risen to 82.3% of GDP from 80% in 2013. (Post Today, 17/04/14)
• Tax shortfall to be addressed – The Revenue Department is poised to tighten scrutiny of tax payments by wealthy owners of businesses with weak earnings as part of efforts to seek higher tax revenue. This follows its estimation that revenue for this fiscal year will have the biggest shortfall in seven years. (Bangkok Post, 17/04/14)
• FTI says GDP growth may be only 0-1% this year — The FTI estimates that if politics cannot find a resolution by May, GDP will grow in the region of 0-1%, with violence being the main downside risk to the estimate. (Daily News, 18/04/14)
• Thailand misses opportunity to sell rice to the Philippines as it fail it bid to secure a 800K-ton rice contract. Currently the government has offloaded 520K tons of its rice stockpile at decent prices. (Thai Post, 18/04/14)
• 9% drop in new registrations —The Commerce Ministry reported a 9% YoY decline in new business registrations in March, while the number of business closures was about the same as a year earlier. (The Nation, 18/04/14)

Globally

• US: 1) U.S. builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes edged up one point to 47 in April from a downwardly revised March reading of 46, according to the latest Housing Market Index by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.
• 2) Manufacturing activity in the New York region was flat in April, with the headline general business conditions index unexpectedly slipping four points to 1.3, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
• 3) The U.S. Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers increased 0.2% in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, said the Labor Department. (Xinhua, 16/04/14)
• 4) The Commerce Department said Monday U.S. retail sales jumped 1.1% in March, the biggest increase in one and a half years. (Xinhua, 15/04/14)
• US: U.S. privately owned housing starts rose 2.8% in March, while building permits fell 2.4%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Both readings trailed analysts ‘ expectations. Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production increased 0.7% in March after having advanced 1.2% in February, exceeding economists’ forecast, the Fed said Wednesday. (Xinhua, 17/04/14)
• U.S. industrial output rises in March, manufacturing gains – U.S. manufacturing output rose for a second straight month in March in a sign of recovery from a long winter that had put a damper on activity. Factory production increased 0.5% in March, according to data from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. (Reuters, 16/04/14)
• US: The number of Americans who initially applied for jobless benefits rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 304,000 in the week ending April 12, said the Labor Department. Manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region increased to 16.6 in April, the highest since September, from a reading of 9.0 in March, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday. (Xinhua, 18/04/14)
• Europe: Ukraine crisis continues to erode German investor confidence: survey – The Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) based in Mannheim said its index for investor expectation for Europe’s largest economy in the next six months declined by 3.4 points to 43.2 points. (Xinhua, 15/04/14)
• British CPI sinks to 1.6% in March – The British Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped 0.1 percentage points to 1.6% in March compared to the previous month, figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday. (Xinhua, 15/04/14)
• Japan: Kuroda hints at further monetary easing to achieve BOJ inflation target – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Tuesday expressed his determination to achieve the central bank’s inflation target, suggesting the BOJ may decide on additional monetary easing to boost the economy. (Kyodo, 15/04/14)
• Crude: The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude stockpiles climbed 10 million barrels for the week ended April 11. Analysts polled by Platts were looking for a climb of 2.4 million barrels. (WSJ, 16/04/14)
• Britain: British unemployment rate drops to 6.9 pct, real wage turns positive – The British unemployment rate dropped to 6.9% in the quarter ending in February, down from 7.1% recorded from September to November 2013, data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Wednesday. (Xinhua, 16/04/14)
• China’s first quarter GDP grows 7.4% – China’s economy grew 7.4% YoY in the first quarter of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Wednesday. (Xinhua, 16/04/14)
• Japan: March dept. store sales up 25% on last-minute demand before tax hike – Japan’s department store sales in March jumped 25.4% from a year earlier on a same-store basis, marking the highest increase since March 1989, a month before the introduction of the consumption tax, an industry body said Thursday. (Kyodo, 17/04/14)
• BOJ chief says Japan economy recovering moderately – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday that the Japanese economy is continuing to recover moderately despite being affected by the consumption tax hike in April to 8% from 5%. (Kyodo, 17/04/14)
• Japan’s consumer confidence drops 1.0 pt in March – Japan’s consumer confidence in March dropped 1.0 point from the previous month to 37.5, down to its lowest level since August 2011, local media reported Thursday. (Xinhua, 17/04/14)
• Asia-Pacific commercial real estate slows in Q1 – After a record year, transactions in Asia-Pacific commercial-real-estate markets slowed 15% YoY to US$23.1bn (Bt747bn) in the first quarter of 2014, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. (The Nation, 18/04/14)