SEPO said Ministry of transport is developing a minor PPP plan to propose to the PPP committee. This plan involves consideration of mass transit lines in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen to be included as PPP. Previously, the committee included only Phuket and Korat projects. (IQ Biz, 12/3/18
Cabinet approved additional budget bill for FY2018 at Bt150bn. This will be submitted to the NLA on March 22. (Thai Rath, 14/3/18)
Economic growth exceeds expectations, says BoT chief. The momentum of Thailand’s economic growth has exceeded expectations and its recovery has become more broad-based, but monetary policy needs to remain accommodative, the central bank governor said on Wednesday. Veerathai Santiprabhob told Reuters in an interview that benign inflation is allowing the country to keep interest rates near record lows despite a rising trend in global rates. The most recent central bank growth forecast, made in December, was for 3.9% in 2018, the same pace as achieved in 2017. (Bangkok Post, 16/3/18)
NBTC gives ADVANC and TRUE another five years to pay for their licenses, working out to approximately Bt10bn/year. The NBTC is going to submit this plan to the cabinet on March 27. (Thun Hoon, 16/03/18)
EEC to attract Bt1.37trn investment over five years, said Kanis Saengsupan, Secretariat of the EEC office. The rapid investment is expected to be clearer this year, specifically in airports and seaports. It also plans to hold a roadshow in China, Japan, and Europe. (Thai Post, 15/3/18)
China retail sales up 9.7 pct in first two months. China’s retail sales of consumer goods grew 9.7 percent year on year to reach 6.1 trillion yuan (about 965 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of 2018, official data showed on Wednesday. The expansion was slightly slower than the 10.2-percent rise seen in 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The data showed sales in rural areas up 10.7 percent, outpacing the 9.6 percent rate in urban areas. In breakdown, the catering sector reported an 10.1-percent year-on-year rise in revenues, while sales of other consumer products increased 9.7 percent. (Xinhua, 15/3/18)
China’s industrial output expands 7.2 pct in Jan-Feb. China’s industrial output expanded at 7.2 percent year on year in the first two months, accelerating from 6.2 percent growth in December 2017, official data showed Wednesday. The growth was faster than the 6.3 percent growth during the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement. Industrial structure continued to improve, with production in high-tech industries and the equipment manufacturing sector expanding by 11.9 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 3 million U.S. dollars). (Xinhua, 15/3/18)
Fed’s Rosengren hints in four-hike camp after US fiscal boost. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren urged “regular but gradual” interest-rate rises so as to avoid a boom-and-bust economy as falling unemployment puts more upward pressure on inflation and wages. Those rate hikes may need to be “a bit faster” than the three rate hikes forecast by most Fed policymakers in December, said Rosengren, whose remarks were in line with several of his colleagues, including New York Fed chief William Dudley. (Reuters, 12/3/18)
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin: More countries may be exempted from the tariffs. Canada and Mexico may not be the only two countries getting a break from the U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday the process will continue to determine whether other countries should be excused from the duties that President Donald Trump announced Thursday. “The president can do exemptions, and my expectation is there may be some other countries that he considers in the next two weeks,” Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.” (CNBC, 12/3/18)
BOJ Keeps Stimulus Unchanged Ahead of New Term for Kuroda. The Bank of Japan stayed the course with its monetary stimulus on Friday at Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s final policy meeting before his new term begins next month. The BOJ kept its yield-curve control settings and asset purchases unchanged, a result forecast by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. (Bloomberg, 12/3/18)
