Thailand

• BoI applications plunge – New applications for investment privileges from the Board of Investment (BoI) in the first two months of this year totalled 107 projects worth a combined 17 billion baht. This represents a sharp fall of 72.6% from the 62 billion baht recorded in the same period last year, acting secretary-general Hirunya Suchinai said yesterday. (Bangkok Post, 20/3/15)
• State banks lowering interest rates after MPC cut – State-run banks are trimming their interest rates after the Monetary Policy Committee cut the Bank of Thailand’s benchmark rate by 25 basis points, on expectations of lessening customers’ financial burdens and stimulating the economy. (The Nation, 20/3/15)
• FPO confident of growth despite weak export outlook – The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) remains firm that economic growth of 3.9% is achievable this year, driven by higher government spending and recoveries in consumption, private investment and tourism. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the FPO’s deputy director-general and spokesman, said as of last Friday, 1.54 trillion baht of the fiscal-2015 budget had been pumped into the economy by government agencies and state enterprises. (Bangkok Post, 20/3/15)

• Q1 growth over 3% – Thailand’s economy is expected to grow more than 3% in the first quarter, driven by recovering tourism and private consumption as well as accelerated government expenditure, says the government’s planning agency. (Bangkok Post, 19/3/15)
• Taxing tutorial schools only fair, says Sansern – The government’s decision to tax tutorial schools is aimed at boosting taxation fairness as research shows tutorial schools’ profit rate is as high as 40 per cent. “Our main focus is not about increasing tax revenue. It’s about fairness,” deputy government spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday. (The Nation, 19/3/15)
• Baht weaker but stable after rate cut – The Bank of Thailand’s 25-basis-point cut in the policy interest rate last week has depreciated the value of the baht by 0.5 per cent and taken the government bond yield curve to the lowest point in six years. (The Nation, 17/3/15)
• 13 industries tabbed to get maximum SEZ privileges – Thirteen industrial categories to be located at special economic zones (SEZs) will be entitled to the highest promotional privileges from the Board of Investment (BoI). They comprise agriculture, fishery and related industries; ceramics; textiles, clothes and leather; furniture; jewellery and ornaments; medical appliances; automotive, machinery and parts; electrical appliances and electronics; plastics; pharmaceuticals; logistics; industrial estates; and tourism-supporting industries, said Arkhom Termpitayapaisith, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, after a special economic development policy committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. (Bangkok Post, 17/3/15)
• Sommai vows to push new tax, slams ‘selfish’ Thais – Finance Minister Sommai Phasee has issued a stern warning that Thailand will become mired in fiscal woe if tax reform, particularly the land and buildings tax, fails to materialise. (Bangkok Post, 17/3/15)
• Overseas trade counsellors see challenges to export growth target – Thailand has trade counsellors in 61 overseas posts in 44 countries, and many foresee challenges for the country’s export sector this year due to uncontrollable external factors such as weakening economic growth in many emerging markets, despite recovery in some major markets. (The Nation, 17/3/15)
• Development fund for four state financial institutions approved – The National Legislative Assembly has passed a bill establishing a development fund for the state’s special financial institutions. (The Nation, 17/3/15)z
• No VAT hike soon – The Finance ministry is not planning to raise the Value-Added Tax, currently collected at 7% with its ceiling of 10%, Mr. Rungson Sriworasat, Permanent Secretary for Finance, said. (Post Today, 16/3/15)
• BOI applications higher in Feb – Applications for Board of Investment privileges increased to Bt10bn in February from Bt7.66bn in January, but still lower than that of Jan-Feb last year, Hirunya Suchinai, acting secretary-general of the BOI, said. (Daily news, 16/3/15)

Globally

• Stronger dollar sees US trade deficit widen – A stronger dollar saw the US current account deficit widen in the final three months of last year due to falling exports and a reduced value of repatriated profits from overseas investments. The Commerce department said the deficit, a broad measure of trade and investment flows, grew by almost 15 per cent to $113.5bn in the fourth quarter of 2014 versus the previous quarter as the US dollar surged against the currencies of most of its main trading partners. (Financial Times, 19/3/15)
• U.S. initial jobless claims rise by 1,000 to 291,000 last week – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose broadly in line with expectations, official data showed on Thursday. In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 14 increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 291,000 from the previous week’s total of 290,000. (Nasdaq, 19/3/15)
• AAII Sentiment Survey: Optimism Falls To A 2-Year Low – Optimism fell to a two-year low according to the latest AAII Sentiment Survey, a sign that individual investors have become more cautious about the short-term outlook for stocks. Pessimism rose to a five-week high, while neutral sentiment remained above 40% for a second consecutive week. (Seeking Alpha, 19/3/15)
• Britain revises up its economy forecast for 2015, 2016 – British government on Wednesday upgraded its economic growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 as the country’s Chancellor George Osborne unveiled the final budget before the general election. According to the budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revised up its forecast for economic growth in 2015 from 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent and in 2016 from 2.2 percent to 2.3 percent. (Xinhua, 19/3/15)
• EU informal meeting on Greece starts with uncertainties – European leaders started an informal meeting on the Greek debt issue late Thursday with uncertainties showed by officials. (Xinhua, 20/3/15)
• Dept store sales grow 1.1% – Department store sales in February grew 1.1 percent from a year before on a same-store basis, up for the first time in 11 months, industry data showed Thursday. Sales at 240 stores operated by 83 companies totaled ¥445.7 billion, the Japan Department Stores Association said. (The Japan News, 20/3/15)
• Japan automobile demand seen down 5.4% in FY16 – Japanese demand for new cars, trucks and buses is expected to fall 5.4 per cent to 4.99 million vehicles in the fiscal year ending in March 2016, the auto industry lobby said on Thursday. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said sales of new automobiles likely fell 7.3 percent in the year ending this month. (Economic Times, 19/3/15)
• U.S. Fed says unlikely to hike interest rates in April – The U.S. Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it is unlikely to raise interest rates in April, but dropped the word “patient” from its policy statement, setting the stage for an interest rate hike later this year. (Xinhua, 19/3/15)
• BoE’s rate-setting committee votes to hold interest rates – The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England (BoE) voted unanimously to hold benchmark interest rates this month, as they keep a cautious eye on strong sterling, according the central bank’s meeting minutes published on Wednesday. (Xinhua, 18/3/15)
• British unemployment rate remains at 5.7 pct in Jan. – The British unemployment rate in the three-month period ending January 2015 was at 5.7 percent, the same as the three months leading up to December 2014, remaining at the lowest level since mid 2008, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Wednesday. (Xinhua, 18/3/15)
• Property market slides further, expects more support – China’s real estate market continued to fall with widening price drops in February, leaving analysts to believe policy makers may move to bail out the ailing sector. Of 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, 66 saw new home prices dip on a monthly basis in February, two more cities than in January, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday. (Xinhua, 18/3/15)
• Japan’s trade deficit drops 47.3 pct on-year in February – Japan posted a goods trade deficit of 424.6 billion yen in February, down 47.3 percent from a year earlier, the government said Wednesday. The balance in goods trade remained in the red for the 32nd straight month, the longest period since comparable data became available in January 1979. Exports rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 3.6 percent, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. (Xinhua, 18/3/15)
• U.S. builder confidence drops for 3rd straight month – U.S. builder confidence for newly-built, single-family homes fell in March for the third straight month, but builders remained optimistic about the spring buying season, a leading industry report said Monday. The builder sentiment index fell two points to 53 this month, the lowest level since July, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor. (Xinhua, 17/3/15)
• U.S. industrial production edges up 0.1% in February – U.S. industrial production, an indicator of mines, factories and utilities output, edged up 0.1% in February after falling for two months running, the Federal Reserve reported on Monday. The Fed revised January’s growth down to -0.3% from its previous estimate of a 0.2% increase. (Xinhua, 16/3/15)
• New York state manufacturing index falls in March – Manufacturing activity growth in New York State slowed in March for a second month in a row as the pace of new orders contracted to its weakest level since November 2013, a New York Federal Reserve survey showed on Monday. The New York Fed’s Empire State general business conditions index fell to 6.90 in March from February’s 7.78. (Reuters, 16/3/15)
• ECB spends €10bn in first week of bond-buy plan – The European Central Bank said on Monday it settled €9.751bn (£7bn) of public-sector bond purchases in the first week of a programme to pump more than €1trn into the euro zone economy. (Reuters, 16/3/15)
• Russian Economy Shrank 0.7% in First Quarter, Central Bank Says – Russia’s economy shrank 0.7% on the year in the first quarter, Russian news agencies reported Monday, citing the central bank’s first deputy chairwoman, Ksenia Yudaeva. However, the Bank of Russia said on its website that its models paint a more optimistic economic outlook than the majority of official forecasts. According to its latest economic outlook, growth could reach 0.6% on the year in the second quarter. (WSJ, 16/3/15)
• China fiscal revenue rises 3.2 pct in first two months – Growth in China’s fiscal revenue slowed sharply in the first two months of 2015 while expenditure increased, suggesting that proactive fiscal policy measures are gaining momentum. Fiscal revenue rose 3.2 percent year on year to reach 2.57 trillion yuan (417.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of 2015, the Ministry of Finance announced on Monday. This was a sharp slowdown from the 8.6 percent gain seen in 2014, as downward pressure on the economy continued. (Xinhua, 16/3/15)
• BOJ starts policy meeting focusing on possible wage hike – the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the Japanese central bank, on Monday kicked off its two-day policy meeting, with an eye on ongoing annual wage talks which would impact on consumer prices. The Policy Board meeting comes as many major Japanese companies are expected to raise pay scales for their employees during the ongoing spring wage talks, although it remains to be seen whether such a move would spread to small and medium-sized firms. (Xinhua, 16/3/15)
• U.S. consumer sentiment falls in early March – U.S. consumer sentiment fell in early March as the confidence of lower and middle income households slid, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment revealed on Friday. The preliminary reading of the consumer sentiment in March, which records the figure for the first half of a month, edged down to 91.2 from 95.4 in February. (Xinhua, 13/3/15)
• U.S. producer prices fall 0.5pct in Feb – The U.S. producer prices fell for four straight months in February, the latest sign for weak inflationary pressures in the U.S. The Producer Price Index (PPI), a gauge of inflation at the factory gate, fell 0.5 percent in February, following a 0.8 percent decline in January, the Labor Department said Friday. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the so-called “core” PPI went down 0.5 percent, compared with a 0.1-percent decline in January. (Xinhua, 13/3/15)
• EC president says not satisfied with developments in Greece bailout talks – The European Commission (EC) president Jean-Claude Juncker said here on Friday that he was “not satisfied with the developments in recent weeks” over Greece bailout talks when he welcomed the visiting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. (Xinhua, 13/3/15)
• Russian Central Bank cuts key interest rate to 14 pct – Russian Central Bank on Friday cut its key interest rate to 14 percent. The decision aims to decrease the risks of “even more significant economic slowdown,” while not bringing additional inflation danger, said the bank’s statement. (Xinhua, 14/3/15)
• Italy public debt rises – Italy’s public debt increased by 31 billion euros (32.5 billion U.S. dollars) in January, raising it up to 2.1659 trillion euros, the country’s central bank said on Friday. The newly issued figure is close to the record of 2.1677 trillion published in July 2014. (Xinhua, 14/3/15)