Thailand is the world’s No 1 most-searched travel destination ahead of CNY week, with Suvarnabhumi Airport expecting to >1.8m incoming Chinese tourists on Jan 16-28, 10K aircrafts movement via 6 airports under AOT’s.
Investment applications last year surged 20% to $20b, thanked to BYD Co. and Foxconn who pledged to invest in sectors from electronics to EVs.
Finance Ministry expects economy to grow 3-4% this year, driven by government’s plan to speed up state investment in key infra projects, with a combined budget of Bt664b.
Investment pledges, driven by FDI, rise by 39% to B665bn: Thailand’s investment pledges rose by 39% in 2022 from the previous year, according to the Board of Investment (BoI). Bangkok Post
Media & commerce: State Railway to sell TOR total 4 contracts in Feb including: 47.675k sq.m commercial area development at Grand Bang Sue station, 2,303 sq.m. ad space (20 years contract), 3.7k sq.m commercial area development on 12 red line MRT stations and 2k sq.m ad space on 12 red line MRT stations.
Oil funds generate best returns for second consecutive year: Oil funds offered the highest cumulative return in 2022 of 14.6%, topping the list for the second year in a row, while technology funds were the main laggard, with a negative return of 43.5%, according to investment research and financial services firm Morningstar. Bangkok Post
REIC expects housing prices to expand by 5-10% in 2023: Construction price index up 5.6% in Q4. Housing prices are projected to rise by 5-10% this year as the standard home construction price index continued an upward trend, with a year-on-year increase of 5.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022 amid a labour shortage. Bangkok Post
BOT vetos idea of removing blacklisted records from national credit bureau as a political campaign by some parties as misled credit condition would harm lenders & depositors, erode confidence of finance institution.
Tourism spending during CNY is estimated to reach Bt21.3b, 48% of the total in 2019, mostly driven by foreign visitors, said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Analysts see potential in Thai capital market as Asean hub: The Thai capital market has good potential to develop and remain a regional leader amidst global challenges and rapid changes in financial markets, say analysts. Kobsak Pootrakool, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations (Fetco), said the global economy and capital markets are still in the transition from crisis to recovery. Bangkok Post
