Speaking at the TDRI annual conference, Somkiat said disruptive technology could prevent the economy from growing at an average 5 per cent per year over the next 20 years, as targeted by the government.

The job loss would be massive, he said, noting the damage already done to Thai print media by radical changes in technology.

Somkiat predicted that, if Thailand cannot adapt, the economy would grow by only 2.1 per cent annually and three million jobs would disappear.

“Helping clients launch a venture off the back of an ICO is extremely challenging but it has

always been PLMP-Fintech’s target challenge to launch ten new ICOs each month,” said PLMP-Fintech’s co-founder Peter Lim. “Now that the opportunity has presented itself sooner than envisaged, we will meet it full-steam ahead.”

The company will host a launch event its first batch of ten ICO projects for SMEs on 18 May at the Suntec Convention Hall.

The launch will coincide with PLMP-Fintech inking multiple Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with an investor and several collaborating partners to further expand its foray into cryptocurrency and blockchain market offerings.

The MOU ceremony will include discussions aimed at securing funding of up to US$10 million for eco-system service expansion and finding partners to enhance its eco-system services.

On this occasion, PLMP-Fintech will also announce the official launch of its own token, Creatanium (CMB), thus bringing diversity in token sales to its decentralized coin and trading platform, the Creatanium Decentralised Exchange (CMB DEX).

Healthcare spending has grown much faster compared to the rest of the economy in recent decades. In the US it rose 818 per cent during 1960-2010 while gross domestic product grew 168 per cent and wages increased only 16 per cent, said Christian Schmid, director fund manger at Credit Suisse. “But the situation seen here is also true around the world,” said Schmid, in an exclusive interview to The Nation.

Annual spending on healthcare in the US is 18 per cent of GDP, which is a very high proportion, said Schmid.

He believed that digitalisation would revolutionise the healthcare industry in the future. He said digitalisation had the potential to reverse the trend of ever-increasing costs, an effect that a number of industries had already benefited from over the past 20 years. The healthcare sector is at least a decade behind in the digitalisation curve.

However, he believed that digital technology would shift the weight of the healthcare industry from treatment of illnesses to preventive care. So those who are engaged on the treatment side, such as pharmaceutical companies or hospital operators, would lose some of their business. “What is going to happen is very powerful. What we see happening is we’re transforming today’s healthcare system into a completely new healthcare system,” said Schmid.

He said that today’s healthcare system is not healthcare but care of the sick, because people are already sick when they enter it.

Two factors are holding back digital healthcare. First, people don’t trust new technology and this will take some time. Second, the rules and regulations of the existing healthcare system are not quick in accommodating new technology.

Things are starting to change, he said.

He said a large number of people globally are ready as they are starting to become more conscious of their health, seen in their wearing of digital devices to monitor their health in real time. Insurance companies are starting to introduce products that offer premium discount for those who regular go to fitness centres and record their health information such as blood pressure, blood-sugar levels and food intake via smartphones or wearables.

While new technology such as sequencing of human DNA will improve disease diagnosis and medical treatment, he said efficiency would be enhanced by technological innovation, leading to lower cost of treatment. Some governments such as in the US, Canada United Kingdom and Switzerland recently laid down a new regulatory framework to drive digital healthcare, Schmid added.

Viroj na Ranong, research director at Thailand Development Research Institute, however, was cautious. He said the healthcare industry does not naturally benefit from the principle of “economies of scale”, an essential to bring cost down. “You cannot just line up people for heart surgery [in the same way you manufacture products],” said Viroj. New technology has often entered healthcare industry and the cost is high initially but then the cost goes down. It is helpful but not by much, he said.

The impact of an ageing society will be huge on healthcare cost, and even IT technology cannot reduce it. “Healthcare cost goes up when people get old and it skyrockets in the last six months of a patient’s struggle to stay alive,” said Viroj.

IT technology will improve treatment efficiency, but it would not have much impact on the cost of treatment.

While shifting towards a preventive approach, it is unlikely to make much difference since your serious illness may be delayed to a later age and then again the cost of treatment will be much higher. “If you are very careful about your health, you may suffer diabetes when you reach 50-60 instead of 30-40,” said Viroj.

Regarding the Thai government’s policy on medical tourism, he said it is one of the factors driving the cost of healthcare in the country as the government promotes demand but cannot keep up with the supply of medical doctors.

She added that as of May 9, sales from OTOP products reached Bt116 billion with whole year sales estimated at Bt153 billion, or up 20 per cent from Bt153 billion at the end of last year.

He said the six plans involve smart community, smart environment, smart mobility, smart energy, smart economy, and smart governance as part of a drive to turn the EEC area – covering Rayong, Chongburi, and Chachensoa, into a innovative and digital city.

The government will provide more facilities and infrastructure for the area, Prachin said.

The subcommittee comprises representatives from the Federation of Accounting Procession, Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand, Bank of Thailand, Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry, and Banking, Fiscal Policy Office of Finance Ministry, and Business Development Department of Commerce Ministry.

Commerce Ministry’s permanent secretary Nantawan Sakuntanak said after the meeting yesterday that IFRS is the financial reporting standards used in 140 countries and Thaland should also adopt it. .

The collaborative parties will forward their proposals in their next meeting.

Pornchai Thiraveja, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Policy Office, said the draft bill on supervision of financial service providers – which is yet to clear the public hearing stage – would not fix the interest rates to be collected by the financial companies, but the rate-setting process would be guided by attention to achieving greater harmony across the categories of loans offered.

Pornchai cited as an example that nano-finance providers would be required to set interest rates equal to those currently levied by Pico finance service providers, while hire purchase firms would provide finance at the same rates as those set for leasing loans.

Now, many businesses are free to set interest rates in the loan types without reference to the rates offered for other loan categories.

If any business does not set its interest rates, it must refer to the civil and commerce law.

The draft bill stems from the government’s efforts to protect consumers and to ensure the systematic and efficient supervision of financial service providers, such as those offering hire purchase, leasing and factoring products.

Some of these companies have not fallen under the government’s regulations and officials have been concerned that such operators may have inadequate standards for their operations.

Under the draft bill, a committee to oversee and supervise financial service providers will be set up to promote independence and flexibility.

An anonymous source at a hire purchase business said that hire purchase businesses run by financial institutions or their subsidiaries are supervised by the Bank of Thailand and the Ministry of Finance. The interest rate charged is set at no more than 15 per cent a year, aside from fees and other expenses, if any.

However, those hire purchase businesses operated by non-bank financial institutions have not been subject to any regulations in terms of the interest rates they charge. As such, they lack any supervisory unit, the source said.

Some companies charge management fees at 8-10 per cent, coupled with the 15 per cent interest rate cap as legally set. Therefore, the effective rates taken in combination are higher than the legal requirement. In such circumstances, these companies are seen as having taken advantage of consumers. The Ministry of Finance has been seeking to address this issue.

Chuchat Petaumpai, executive chairman of Muangthai Capital Plc (MTC), said that the draft bill on supervision of financial service providers that are not regulated by the central bank, or the bill on non-bank financial institutions, is expected to come into effect late this year as the latest.

The public hearing stage has not yet included the issue of interest rates taken in combination with fees that leads to an effective rate of more than 15 per cent. Consideration of this would be the responsibility of the nine committee members – representatives of the BOT, the Ministry of Finance and other experts – to be appointed after the bill comes into effect, Chuchat said.

However, he expressed no concern over the issue as, earlier, the BOT had set the rate cap levied on nano-finance loans at 36 per cent and personal loans at 28 per cent.

He expected the to-be-determined rates to result in no impact for MTC.

It has been announced that the coordinator of a group to protect debtor rights plans to file a lawsuit in a civil court alleging that MTC charged interest on loans above the legal limit of 15 per cent.

Chuchat said that he is not troubled by the prospect for such an action, as the law, stipulates that interest rates can be charged at 15 per cent. It also indicates that the rates of service fees, fines and collection fees shall be set as appropriate, but not determining the fixed rates, Chuchat said.