Tax cheer for Songkran? — To heat up local dining and travel during the sweltering Thai New Year season, the government plans to roll out a new tax incentive scheme aimed at sparking a Songkran spending spree amid the languid economic recovery. (Bangkok Post, 21/3/16)
Stimulus deadline spurs race to cut rates — Mortgage competition is heating up with banks racing to offer lower interest rates for the first three years to attract homebuyers. The race to win new customers comes before lower interest rates from the government’s property stimulus measures expire next month. (Bangkok Post, 21/3/16)
Thailand to go it alone on Thai-Sino high-speed rail — Thailand has decided to wholly invest in the Thai-Sino railway project after it failed to agree in talks with China on the terms of the arrangement which has set back progress for months. (Bangkok Post, 24/3/16)
BAAC allows B100bn for SME loans — The state-backed Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) aims to extend 100 billion baht in loans a year from now through 2018 to small and medium-sized farms, which it targets to account for 30% of its portfolio. (Bangkok Post, 24/3/16)
Revenue misses target by 7% — The government’s revenue collection was 7.4% lower than targeted in February, mainly due to lower-than-expected value-added tax (VAT) on imported products and a smaller contribution from state agencies. (Bangkok Post, 24/3/16)
US existing home sales tumble in warning sign for housing market – U.S. home resales fell sharply in February in a potentially troubling sign for America’s economy which has otherwise looked resilient to the global economic slowdown. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales dropped 7.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.08 million units, the lowest level since November. (CNBC, 22/3/16)
Japan March manufacturing activity contracts as export orders tumble: flash PMI — Japan’s manufacturing activity contracted in March for the first time in almost a year as new export orders shrank sharply, a preliminary business survey showed on Tuesday, in a worrying sign that the global economy is weakening. The Markit/Nikkei Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 49.1 in March on a seasonally adjusted basis from a final 50.1 in February. (Reuters, 22/3/16)
Oil falls further after EIA reveals a 9.4mn bbl rise in U.S. crude supplies — Oil futures lost more ground on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 9.4 million-barrel jump in crude-oil supplies for the week ended March 18. (Market Watch, 24/3/16)
Bullard Sees Case for April Hike as Inflation Set to Pick Up — Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said policy makers should consider raising interest rates at their next meeting amid a broadly unchanged economic outlook and prospects of inflation and unemployment exceeding targets. (Bloomberg, 24/3/16)
US weekly jobless claims total 265,000 vs 268,000 estimate — Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000 for the week ended March 19, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week’s claims were revised to show 6,000 fewer applications received than previously reported. (CNBC, 24/3/16)
