Thai Economy Turns a Corner as Junta Starts to Boost Investment — Thailand’s economy showed signs of a turnaround with its fastest quarterly growth this year, as the military government’s stimulus spending and a rise in tourist arrivals offset weak local demand and exports. Gross domestic product expanded 1 percent in the three months through September from the previous quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Board said in Bangkok Monday. GDP climbed 2.9 percent from a year earlier, more than the median forecast of 2.5 percent in a separate survey. (Bloomberg, 16/11/15)
Economy Expected To Expand By 3-4% On Govt Measures — Private spending will be spurred in the coming year by the government’s continued acceleration of its fiscal budget disbursement rate, expected investments in mega-infrastructure projects and the momentum from the economic stimulus measures introduced this year, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB). (The Nation, 17/11/15)
BOI to issue investment stimulus policy to cover the applications from January 1, 2014 – June 30 2016. Those starting up operations within 2017 will get corporate income tax exempted for 1- 4 years. It has approved Bt665bn in investment this year so far and approved 15 projects with a total value of Bt37.5bn. (Naew Na, 17/11/15)
Bureau of State Enterprises and Government Securities is currently studying an Infrastructure Fund or “Thailand Future Fund” in order to reduce government’s budget barrier and public debt. It is expected to be finalized this December. It expects to be able to set up the fund next year. (Matichon, 17/11/15)
NBTC endorsed the Nov 11 1800-MHZ auction and will issue the licenses within 90 days. There will be three payments, beginning with 50% of the auction price within 90 days. The second payment is set at 25% of the auction price and due two years and 15 days after getting the license. The final payment is 25% of the auction price and is due three years and 15 days after getting license. (Naew Na, 17/11/15)
IMF Move to Give Yuan Reserve Status Likely to Boost China Assets — The IMF staff has signed off on the move and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde endorsed the decision late Friday. The lending institution’s most powerful members including the U.S. have already signaled they would back Beijing’s bid, making final approval by the IMF board at a Nov. 30 meeting largely a formality. (Wall Street Journal, 16/11/15)
China outbound investment surge reinforces growth confidence. China’s overseas nonfinancial investment during the first 10 months of 2015 surged 16.3 percnt year on year, hailed by many as a stabilizer of world economic growth. The mainland made around 589.2 billion yuan (about 95.21 billion U.S. dollars) in outbound direct investment (ODI) during the period, covering 5,553 companies across 152 countries and regions, data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed on Monday. (Xinhua News, 16/11/15)
China’s economy to grow at around 7% this year — China’s President Xi Jinping said the country is able to maintain a medium to high economic growth rate and expects China’s economy to grow at around 7 per cent this year. Mr Xi’s remarks at the G-20 Summit in Turkey on Sunday were published on the foreign ministry’s website. (The Business Times, 16/11/15)
BOJ to keep current pace of easing, shrug off recession as temporary — The Bank of Japan is set to maintain the current pace of monetary easing on Thursday, holding on to slim hopes that a recovery for the sputtering economy is in sight despite soft capital expenditure and external headwinds. (Reuters, 18/11/15)
ECB ‘considered October easing’, minutes show — Eurozone policy makers mooted ramping up their monetary stimulus as early as October. The ECB is expected to unleash a souped-up version of its €1.1trn quantitative easing package and consider cutting one of its benchmark interest rates deeper into negative territory in its early December vote. (Financial Times, 19/11/15)
