The Phuket Pledge is a commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle single-use plastics, with the aim to phase it out in all hotels and resorts.

In addition, stakeholders vowed to undertake a youth community education programme to ensure grassroots awareness of the critical problems surrounding plastic usage on the islands.

Industry leaders and organisations signed on at the Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism Forum 2018 (PHIST) held on September 24. In addition to reducing plastics use, the forum wants to establish a sustainability model for future development of islands throughout Asia, and set urgent goals for long-term change.

“Plastic reduction has been at the core of our company sustainability efforts for over a decade,” said Six Senses Hotels Resorts and Spas President Bernhard Bohnenberger. “The industry is finally waking up to this issue, but we need coordination and action to make tangible change and see results. This is what we hope PHIST will go a long way to achieving.”

Supported by Thailand’s Ministry of Sports and Tourism, PHIST is the largest hospitality event dedicated to sustainability in Asia. More than 550 delegates from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong and other countries gathered at the JW Marriott Mai Khao in Phuket on September 24 to debate key issues.

PHIST was co-organised by Phuket Hotels Association, C9 Hotelworks led by managing director Bill Barnett, and Greenview CEO Eric Ricaurte.

Inflation is currently low due to the revolution of information and related technologies, central bank governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said in his keynote speech at the BOT Symposium 2018: The Future of Money, Finance and Central Banking yesterday. He also pointed out that the global financial system was fast changing and complicated, and that new technology has resulted in boundaries fading in many dimensions.

For instance, he said, the borders are blurring as cross-border financial transactions have risen significantly.

The line between banking and other businesses have also blurred as entrants from telecom companies, e-commerce operators and social media platforms have started providing financial services.

“This changing landscape has led to a more complicated financial system, making the central bank’s role in stabilising the financial system more challenging,” he said.

Long periods of low interest have resulted in risky behaviour as people search for higher yields, which could lead to the underestimation of risks, he said.

Veerathai indicated that the BOT might take action on the rising competition among lenders, as they may be weakening the loan criteria.

“The Bank of Thailand will consult with all concerned parties,” Veerathai said in response to a question about the current housing loan situation.

The central bank’s monetary-policy committee had earlier voiced concerns about the fierce competition for borrowers, which has led to the extension of repayment periods and lower standards for loan approval.

The BOT is also worried about a potential oversupply of condominium units priced below Bt3 million as real-estate developers are building more residential units, betting on higher economic growth and government spending on infrastructure projects.

As for the interest-rate policy, Veerathai said an expansionary monetary policy might still be needed in the medium term, even though the US Federal Reserve might increase rates again this week.

Higher US rates

The next round of Fed rate hikes would likely make US rates higher than Thailand’s by 75 basis points, which is rather unusual, as the Thai rate is usually higher than that of the US.

The current Thailand policy rate of 1.5 per cent is also very low compared to rates implemented by central banks in neighbouring countries.

External factors might make the financial market highly volatile, much like the recent turbulence in capital outflows from emerging markets, Veerathai added.

A high current-account surplus estimated at US$35 billion (Bt1.13 trillion) this year and low foreign debts have so far cushioned Thailand from an impact of capital outflows.

Escalating trade disputes between the United States and China has also been creating uncertainty, so the central bank has to closely monitor this situation, he said.

Internal factors such as economic recovery and the political roadmap are also being taken into account, he said.

“Our interest policy is data dependent, we cannot act like the US Fed, which tells the market in advance about the rate hike,” he said, adding that BOT policy rates would depend on latest economic data and Thailand, as a small economy, is more sensitive to changing conditions.

He also emphasised that the central bank has to remain independent to effectively carry out its mandate of maintaining financial stability and price stability.

Meanwhile, former central bank governor MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul said the key challenge for central bankers is finding something to do once the job of printing money is taken away.

He also pointed out that private companies have started creating their own digital currencies.

“I expected the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, to put a brake on digital currencies, but they did not,” he said, referring to the use of Bitcoin and other digital tokens for financial transactions.

The central bank’s monetary-policy committee had earlier expressed concern about the fierce competition for loan clients, which had led to extended repayment periods and could lower standards for loan approval.

The Director of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, Pimchanok Vonkorpon, said that the value on imports hit US$23.38 billion in August, up 22.8 per cent year on year, resulting the country’s trade deficit of US$588 million.

Thailand’s total export value for the first eight months of this year was US$169.03 billion, up 10 per cent year on year. The total value of imports in the first eight months of this year was US$166.67 billion, up 15.9 per cent year on year, resulting in a trade surplus of US$2.35 billion.

Pimchanok said that the growth of total exports in August was due to higher overseas sales on industrial goods, by 5.8 per cent, as well as exports of oil-related products, auto parts, as well as cosmetics and acne treatment products, which jumped by 50.6 per cent year on year. Fresh vegetables, fruits, cassava and rice were up 4.1 per cent.

Sharad Mehrotra, chief executive of Telenor Myanmar, said the most urgent thing Myanmar needs to do is to establish a sustainable ecosystem in line with international standards, and to strengthen the legal framework for the growth of the whole industry.

“Now it is time to focus on the ecosystem so that we can move forward to the next level by providing better services to our customers. We all are looking at how we can work together in this ecosystem,” he said.

Mehrotra said spectrum growth, improved regulations, cross border data and education programmes for consumers would drive the industry boom.

Zaw Min Oo, chief external relations officer of Mytel, the fourth mobile operator partnering with Vietnam’s Viettel Group, echoed Mehrotra’s view.

“Sustainable competition is really important, and we need to set up a ecosystem. We want drafted telecom laws to be enacted as soon as possible. It is very tough to work under regulations set by the department level,” he said.

He said innovative products and affordability to access data would stimulate Myanmar’s business sentiment and could lead to a very healthy growing market.

Noboru Edagawa, chief technology officer of MPT-KSGM Joint Operations, stressed the importance of education to implement Myanmar’s e-government initiative and plans for digital economy.

“Two important things need to improve at the same time. One is human and another is the system. We can improve the system in a short time but it usually takes time to educate the people,” he said.

Staff capability

Edagawa said government staff’s capability must be improved to ensure they effectively utilise the latest technology to fulfil customers’ needs. He added the government need to consider enlarging the role of telecom operators, as they can help build good infrastructure and bring new technologies to Myanmar in order to improve performance in the long term.

Vikram Sinha, chief executive of Ooredoo Myanmar, said stiff competition in the market has been pushing telecom operators to improve the quality of services, allowing end users to enjoy more benefits at a cheaper price.

Wai Lin Tun, co-founder and chief executive of Frontiir Co which provides Myanmar Net data services, said it is very important to ensure everyone has access to the Internet. He stressed the importance of user-friendliness in making people connected. The company targets very diverse segments of users so that poor people can also access the Internet.

Supoj Mahapan, managing director for international carrier and alliance management at True Corporation, which is cooperating with several telcos and ISPs in Myanmar, shared the same view with Wai Lin Tun. He called for lower data costs so that everyone can use the Internet.

“From the regulatory perspective, if the government makes things easier for telecom operators by reducing the costs, then it will help telcos grow their business,” he said.

Supoj said the regulator plays a key role in closer cooperation among the telecom operators, and can help newcomers connect with all players.

“That way, newcomers will stimulate the competition, and end users will benefit from that,” he said.

“It is like chicken and eggs. For most Myanmar people to access the Internet, it must be at a affordable cost. In order to do that, we need to find ways to reduce costs. Should we expand the capacity ourselves and wait for the demand or should we wait for the demand first?” he questioned.

According to Supoj, it is good for Myanmar to strengthen connectivity to attract more accountable service providers. Yet, implementation of a new system is easier said than done, he warned.

“It took us almost six years to justify a submarine cable project in Thailand . It was very difficult, and I do not see any difference in Myanmar,” he said.

“Myanmar is moving fast, and the government has done good job so far. That is why international gateway businesses find it easier to operate here. It will help Myanmar’s growth but most of the projects take time, especially submarine cables.”

Supoj said the company can help Myanmar players grow further to ensure cost-effectiveness for international connectivity.

“We need to make sure that businesses and people in Myanmar know more about True [Corporation]. I am happy to see that many homes in Myanmar have True Vision digital receivers. It is a growing market with a lot of potential in the future with many Myanmar people utilising technology and data.