State enterprise office looking to sell some securities. THE State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) is expected to sell in the second half of next year some securities held by the Finance Ministry in 24 entities, Sepo director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas said. (The Nation, 13/11/17)
Tax reduction for domestsic tourism to be proposed to Finance Ministry. This includes tax reduction from expenses generated from traveling to second-tier cities in 2018 with a tax break at Bt30,000/person and expenses generated in low season for a tax break of up to Bt50,000. This will be concluded within 1-2 months in order to implement in 1Q18. (Thai Rath, 15/11/17)
High-speed rail project delayed due to EIA review. Construction work has been delayed until the middle of next month for the initial 3.5-kilometre stretch of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway in Nakhon Ratchasima, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said yesterday. The reason for the latest delay is that the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report is still pending approval he said. (Bangkok Post, 16/11/17)
BoT: Commercial banks’ bad loans to peak in Q4. Commercial lenders’ bad loans will peak at just above 3% of loans outstanding this quarter, says a senior Bank of Thailand official. “Commercial banks’ bad loans reached nearly 3% [at the end of September], and we expect the ratio to continue to climb higher and peak in the fourth quarter,” said Daranee Saeju, senior director for the financial institutions strategy department at the central bank. “We still see an increase in both new and re-entry non-performing loans (NPLs), but the pace is slowing down.” (Bangkok Post, 13/11/17)
BoT chief tells forum stability is paramount. The baht rose to 32.95 versus the greenback yesterday, hitting a 30-month high, with Bank of Thailand governor Veerathai Santiprabhob saying the firmer baht is in line with regional peers, driven by the US dollar’s retreat. (Bangkok Post, 17/11 /17
Harker eyes inflation, stands by Fed rate hike next month. A Federal Reserve official said on Monday he expects to back an interest rate hike next month despite caution over the lowinflation “conundrum,” since the U.S. central bank needs to prepare for any future economic shock. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said he has “lightly penciled in” a December rate hike, suggesting he had slightly less conviction about the policy decision than he had last month. Inflation, he said, “continues to elicit caution” about its weakness and also about the way in which it is measured. (The Nation, 13/11/17)
China reports highest industrial capacity utilization in five years. China’s industrial capacity utilization amounted to 76.6 percent in the first three quarters this year, the highest level in five years, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday. In the third quarter, industrial capacity utilization stood at 76.8 percent, flat with the previous quarter and 3.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year, the NBS said. (Xinhua 14/11/17)
Industrial production grew 6.2% year-on-year in October, compared to a 6.6% increase in September, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Analysts had been expecting growth of 6.2%. Fixed asset investment, or spending on infrastructure and property, rose 7.3% year-on-year in the first ten months of the year, moderating from a 7.5% increase over the January-September period. Retail sales expanded 10% from a year ago, slowing down from 10.3% in September. (Barrons, 15/11/17)
Janet Yellen admits the Fed can be confusing the public with its many voices. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday that one of the challenges for the central bank is how its multiple members communicate with the public. “This really is one of the challenges of our system,” Yellen told a European Central Bank panel in Frankfurt. “We have a very large committee, 19 people,” she said. “We’ve had a kind of democratization of monetary policy that began really under my predecessor.” (CNBC, 15/11/17
U.S. crude, gasoline stocks build unexpectedly as output rises: EIA. U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories grew unexpectedly last week as crude production and refining output rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. (Reuters, 16/11/17)
