He made the remark yesterday in response to a World Bank report released on Wednesday, which sees Thailand’s ranking for the ease of doing business being upgraded three places to 46th.
Somkid added that the upgrade could influence the Kingdom’s competitiveness ranking, as rated by the IMD World Competitiveness Centre and the World Economic Forum.
Thailand is aiming high in improving many ways to boost the ease of doing business in the coming years, a senior Thai official said yesterday.
“Thailand is aiming to promote the country’s development in facilitating business growth, so that the ranking can rise to between 30th and 39th place, as Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has targeted,” said Thosaporn Sirisumphand, secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC).
“The country is also aiming to become the world’s 12th and Asean’s second [best] in the ease of doing business after completing its 12th national economic and social development plan, which will be implemented between 2017 and 2021.”
He was commenting after Thailand’s ranking in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report for 2017 improved from 49th place to 46th among the 190 economies covered.
The higher ranking is attributed mainly to the Kingdom having made strong progress in the resolution of insolvency, an area in which the ranking soared from 49th to 23rd.
Increased efficiency in enforcing contracts, getting credit cards and starting a business are also highlighted.
Thosaporn said the government would continue its strong efforts to improve in areas that still obstructed business growth, including the time it took to get electricity installed, issues concerning construction, and the many layers of tax payment.
He added that the government would coordinate with many agencies, such as the Metro-politan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority, to reduce the time and cost of electricity installation.
It takes an average of 37 days to get connected to the grid in Thailand, compared with 31 days in Singapore, while the respective costs of getting connected are US$42.50 (Bt1,490) and $25.90, according to the World Bank report.

Faster VAT refund
The government will also seek ways to reduce the time it takes to get a value-added-tax refund, the OPDC secretary-general said.
Ruenwadee Suwanmongkol, director-general of the Legal Execution Department, said Thailand’s “resolving insolvency” ranking had improved to the highest level in Asean, showing that the country’s development had had a significant effect in terms of helping businesses emerge from bankruptcy.
Singapore’s ranking in this respect is 29th, while Malaysia ranks 49th in the World Bank’s 2017 report.
The report found that more than two-thirds of the East Asia and Pacific region’s 25 economies had implemented business reforms in the past year to make it easier to do business.
East Asia and Pacific countries implemented a total of 45 reforms, compared with 28 the previous year.
Four economies in the region rank among the top 10 globally in the overall “doing business” rankings: New Zealand, in first place, followed by Singapore (second), Hong Kong (fourth) and South Korea (fifth).
Thailand maintains its place in the top 50 with its improved ranking of 46th.
Ulrich Zachau, World Bank country director for Thailand, said the Kingdom was steadily making progress to ease the process of doing business.
Overall, the country has narrowed the gap between its performance and that of the leading economies, with the “distance to frontier score” in doing business improving from 71.65 to 72.53.
He said Thailand had taken steps to improve the business climate by implementing three reforms in the past year: making it easier to start a business through the creation of a single window for registration payment and reducing the time taken to obtain a company seal; improving access to credit information by starting to provide credit scores to banks and financial institutions; and making the resolution of insolvency easier through new restructuring for small and medium-sized companies and streamlining legal provisions related to company liquidation.
Zachau suggested that the country should continue focusing on reforms to promote a better business environment, in addition to implementing public infrastructure investments, developing skilled workers through quality education, and promoting innovation.
These efforts can further improve the country’s competitiveness, which will lead to more and better jobs for many Thais, he added.

More than half of holidaymakers occasionally or frequently had to work while on vacation, and more than half of this group cancelled or postponed holidays because of work.
Only one in 10 vacationers is able to “turn off” completely from work, or cannot remember a holiday uninterrupted by work.
The Holiday Inn “Do More of What You Love” survey was conducted between April and July via SoGoSurvey.com. A total of 521 respondents were surveyed across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
“Despite the large numbers of travellers who admit work does often encroach on their holiday time, what we find encouraging is that other group of travellers who find ways to switch off, relax, rejuvenate and enjoy their break,” said Lee Lin Teo, head manager of the Holiday Inn brand for Asia, the Middle East and Africa at InterContinental Hotels Group.
The survey explored what guests love to do and see during vacations with friends and family. Key findings indicate that in today’s “always on, always connected” world, travellers find it challenging truly to disengage from work.
More than half (56 per cent) of the holidaymakers surveyed said they had either occasionally or frequently had to work while on vacation, and more than 55 per cent of this group have had to cancel or postpone holidays because of urgent last-minute work commitments.
Whether participants are male or female, parents or child-free, the findings show that taking a break is not easy to achieve:
More men (57 per cent) than women (42 per cent) frequently work on holidays. More male than female respondents (56 per cent and 43 per cent respectively) said they had had to cancel or postpone holidays because something urgent at work had come up. Of those who have had to cancel or postpone a holiday due to work, child-free respondents were worst affected (63 per cent).
Some travellers are finding ways to make work “work” while on holidays. Almost one in three (30 per cent) say they only check work e-mails and messages once their children are in bed, with the survey finding women (61 per cent) more disciplined than men (38 per cent) at doing this.
Regional comparisons showed parents from Japan, Southeast Asia and India were best at only checking in with work once their little ones were snoozing. Those from the Middle East scored among the lowest, not surprising given that almost half (47 per cent) said they had to cancel or postpone family holidays because of work.
Younger travellers around the region were also surveyed, with many saying they were seeing their mums and dads working during their precious breaks instead of spending quality time with them.
In fact, more than 10 per cent say their parents always work on holidays, which is food for thought as almost a quarter (23 per cent) of all kids surveyed said they felt sad when their parents worked on vacation, saying they simply wanted to spend time or play together with their parents.

TOT was the sole bidder for the project. The ministry informed it on October 20 that it had been turned down.
The ministry is expected to draft new terms of reference for a new tender call soon.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SCORE IMPROVES
Thai listed companies have achieved an average score of 78 per cent in this year’s corporate-governance survey by the Institute of Directors (IOD), up 3 points from last year’s 75 per cent.
Bandid Nijathaworn, president of the IOD, said that according to the “Corporate Governance Report of Thai Listed Companies”, based on a survey of 601 firms, the best scores were in the “Rights of Shareholders” and “Equitable Treatment to Stakeholders” categories, both averaging 92 per cent. “Disclosure and Transparency” followed with an average score of 82 per cent.
Of those surveyed, 80 firms scored more than 90 per cent in corporate governance, while |195 scored 80-89 per cent. About 180 scored |70-79 per cent.

CPF ACQUIRES STAKE IN CHINESE ANIMAL FEED FIRM
Charoen Pokphand Foods has invested Bt1.68 billion to acquire a Chinese animal-feed company to expand its agri-food business in that country, CPF reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
The transaction was made by CPF’s indirect subsidiary Chia Tai (China) Investment. CTCI purchased a 70-per-cent stake in Fujian Sumpo Foods Holding from Sumpo International Holdings and Longyan Huiren Investment Co.
CPF has also set up three new subsidiaries, one of which is in Taiwan with the objective of running a laying-hen business. The other two companies are in China and Thailand, to produce processed food and run a restaurant business respectively.

BANPU POWER IPO FULLY SUBSCRIBED
Banpu Power (BPP) has succeeded in offering all of its 648,492,500 new ordinary shares to interested investor groups.
The power-generation subsidiary of Banpu will make its debut on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Friday 28 October tomorrow.
According to Banpu chief executive officer Somruedee Chaimongkol, BPP’s new ordinary shares gained strong interest from all investor groups. Thus all of the 648,492,500 newly issued ordinary shares were sold, equivalent to about Bt13.6 billion.
BPP plans to use the proceeds for repayment of loans from its parent Banpu, domestic and international business expansion, and working capital. Banpu is still the majority shareholder of BPP, holding more than 78 per cent of its shares.

CABINET APPROVES EGAT STAKE IN ADARO INDONESIA
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand’s |proposal to purchase as much as 12 per cent of |coal miner Adaro Indonesia for US$325 million (Bt11.37 billion), Government Spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. Adaro Indonesia is part of Adaro Energy, Indonesia’s biggest coal miner by market value. – Reuters The planned investment by Egat International Co (EGATi), a wholly owned unit of Egat, will support Egat’s long-term strategy to secure Thailand’s energy supplies, Sansern said after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The first portion of $164 million will be paid this year and the rest will be paid during the period from 2022 to 2027, he said.
Funding will come from Egat and dividends from the investment, according to documents presented during the Cabinet meeting.
EGATi was founded in 2007 to invest in power and energy projects overseas. – Reuters

Pimchanok Wornkorporn, deputy director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Policies and Trade Strategies Bureau, said yesterday that export value this year should be between US$212.2 billion and $214.3 billion. That would be a contraction of zero to 1 per cent, less severe than other predictions of a 2-per-cent shrinkage.
The ministry reported that exports in September grew for the second straight month by 3.43 per cent to $19.46 billion (Bt668.93 billion) in value, while imports surged by 5.57 per cent, increasing for the first time in four months, to $16.91 billion in total value.
The country locked in a trade surplus of $2.54 billion last month.
In the first nine months of this year, exports fell slightly, by 0.65 per cent, to $160.46 billion, while imports slumped by 7.27 per cent to $142.53 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $17.92 billion.
Pimchanok said it was very possible that exports would expand strongly during the remaining months thanks to recovering demand in many markets – the Middle East being an exception – along with higher oil prices, which would drive up the value of oil by-product exports.
To end up with flat growth for the whole year, exports need to be worth at least $18.2 billion a month, or grow by 3.22 per cent.
For a 1-per-cent contraction, exports each month must be worth at least $17.2 billion.
Last month, exports increased after strong shipment expansion of many industrial goods, particularly transistors, machinery, chemical products and electrical appliances, while exports agricultural products including rice, shrimp, fruits and vegetables also increased.
Exports to all markets trended up last month, except to the Middle East.

These projects, worth hundreds of millions of US dollars, are substantial in themselves. They also represent a growing trend that could generate opportunities for businesses all over the world.
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping set out far-reaching plans to improve China’s trading links to Asia, Africa and Europe.
China’s plans focus on two routes. The first is a so-called Belt over land through Central Asia to Europe; the second, a “Road” over the sea through Southeast Asia to India and the Middle East.
The “Belt and Road” routes span more than 65 countries, which, taken together, account for 29 per cent of global gross domestic product and 63 per cent of the world’s population.
China expects cross-border commerce along these routes to exceed US$2.5 trillion per year, up from $1 trillion in 2015. Over the long term, a closer level of cooperation is anticipated in areas including finance and policy.
But the initial focus is creating or improving infrastructure such as road, rail and power networks, telecommunications and ports.
All the nations involved stand to benefit. Improved links would make it easier for China to do business with the rest of the world, as well as stimulating demand for the country’s goods and services overseas.
Investment in developing economies along the routes could support urbanisation and create high-quality jobs. And building new infrastructure to high environmental standards would accelerate the global shift to a low-carbon economy.
But these benefits come with a high price tag. To take a sample of just six countries along the route, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam need $2.1 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2030 – far more than the public expenditure currently envisaged, according to HSBC Global Research.
So great is the demand for capital that China has spearheaded the creation of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, a new organisation backed by 57 countries with $100 billion of capital. It has already joined existing public development banks and private commercial banks in providing capital and guarantees for new infrastructure.
Planned investment presents immediate opportunities for international companies that can develop ports, highways, hydropower and telecommunications. This could include everything from raw materials to design, engineering and legal advice.
Over the longer term, boosting connectivity has the potential to catalyse trade and growth across developing countries with young and growing populations. For any company seeking new customers, that is an exciting proposition to explore.
Some businesses are already well aware of China’s plans and have factored them into their long-term decisions. But a recent poll of HSBC’s business customers suggests that as many as three in five are unaware of the potential opportunities – and have no strategy to make the most of them.
As the initiatives progress they are likely to boost international use of the yuan, and in fact the same poll revealed that 24 per cent of decision makers said their company was using the Chinese currency, up from 17 per cent in 2015.
Though China’s pace of expansion has slowed from the double-digit rates seen in the first decade of the century, its global influence – as the world’s second-largest economy and a trading powerhouse – are far greater than 10 or even five years ago.
The country’s overseas investments are only likely to increase, further underlining its pivotal role. For many international companies, understanding China’s ambitions is still a key that could unlock future growth.

Noel Quinn, the author, is chief executive for global commercial banking at HSBC.

The conference will be held in Los Angeles from November 2-9.
The department says the Thai movie and animation industries have earned a reputation for producing high-quality work at reasonable prices.
The market value of the movie industry is about Bt26.5 billion, while that of the animation and computer-graphics business is Bt3.5 billion, it said. Exports accounted for 10 per cent of the two business groups’ total market value last year.
At AFM Conferences, the department will facilitate trade negotiations and set up an information stand to advise international business operators.
Eight Thai movie-production companies and two animation and computer-graphics firms will participate.
The eight production companies are Mono Film Co, Benetone (Thailand) Co, Film Frame Productions Co, G2D Co, Kantana Sound Studio Co, Sahamongkol Film International Co, Wandee Media Co and Matching Broadcast Co.
The two animation and computer-graphics firms are The Monk Studios Co and Yggdrazil Group Co.
The department believes that participating in the Los Angeles event will help the Thai entertainment industry become more competitive on the global stage, leading to trade, investment, co-production, subcontracting and networking.

A blockchain is in essence a “digital ledger” where identical copies of all transactions are maintained in a network of computers controlled by different entities, which you may think of as a peer-to-peer network.
Trust is facilitated through the collective record-keeping maintained by each computer (node) ensuring the security and accuracy of the distributed ledger. Transactions are logged in an encrypted form that can be reviewed by participating nodes and entries are only allowed by a consensus of participants and can never be erased.
The key features and corresponding benefits of blockchain are:
_    Its benefits include a decentralised and distributed approach to record keeping, and reliability and availability resulting from a large network of nodes sharing a blockchain and no single point of failure, thus making it resilient against outages and attacks.
_    It provides an irreversible and immutable policy for transaction entries. Transparency, increasing auditability and trust as all transactions are visible and irrevocable, so changes cannot be made without detection, reducing opportunities for fraud.
_    It allows near-real-time settlement of recorded transactions. Transactions can be verified and settled in minutes, reducing time needed to transfer funds or complete transactions.
In considering the features and benefits of blockchain, the potential challenges arising from this technology should also be evaluated before further exploration.
The greatest uncertainty surrounding blockchain is the commercial application of the technology and its regulation. Investments are flowing into exploring the concepts and potential applications of blockchain in every industry.
The greatest amount of interest and activity is coming from the financial-services industry, exploring applications for both public and permission blockchains. Three types of blockchains currently exist.
Public blockchain: for example the bitcoin blockchain that anyone can read, transact and validate through a consensus.
Consortium blockchain: for example R3, a consortium of financial institutions with a pre-selected set of nodes to control the consensus process.
Private blockchain: with write permissions centralised to an organisation but read permission can be public or restricted.
Blockchain seems to be a promising way to reduce the risks in securities trading with almost no latency in settlement, which helps simplify middle and back-office processes.
Other industries are exploring the application of blockchain for securely storing medical records, recording contracts, accruing loyalty points and more. How the technology is going to be adopted across industries is still uncertain, as most applications currently use cases being tested and prototyped.
Organisations should realise that as with all digital technologies that have enabled greater efficiency in processes, blockchain has the same potential to transform industries with its distributed ledger technology to simplify processes further, save money and minimise risks of fraud or unreliability.

PARICHART JIRAVACHARA is a risk-advisory partner at Deloitte Thailand.

“Amid the national tragic period following the demise of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, local people flocked to the event to purchase books and publications that feature His Majesty the King’s biography and his royal duties, as well as literary works by the King,” Charan Homtienthong, president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand, said yesterday.
Throughout his 70 years on the throne, Thailand’s revered King served as an inspiration for his people to keep doing good. Therefore, books about the King became precious collector’s items.
Book lovers, particularly families, also went to this show to shop for other kinds of books, including teen novels and non-fiction.
Despite facing difficult times due to the economic slowdown, more than 400 publishers exhibited their books at this annual event, occupying more than 21,000 square metres at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok.
Attendance this year was below the projection of 2 million.
According to a study the association conducted in July, readers aged 20-35 regularly frequented bookstores – about once a fortnight or more.
E-book sales were not growing as expected, as people still preferred to read and touch real books, Charan said.
This year, sales of books will reach about Bt12 billion, the association estimates.

Ayudhya Capital Services, also known as Krungsri Consumer, the consumer-finance arm of Bank of Ayudhya, has seen a significant drop in its credit-card spending since His Majesty’s death, especially in the dining category, said Krungsri Consumer managing director Nayanee Peaugkham.
Normally, the fourth quarter accounts for 40 per cent of total yearly spending with its cards, but Krungsri Consumer expects the gloomy sentiment to last into December. Therefore it is considering revising down its full-year credit-card-spending forecast, she said.
“We have cancelled all above-the-line activities including concerts to enhance spending in the fourth quarter, and promotions have been offered to cardholders at the selling points instead,” she said.
For example, Krungsri Consumer had planned an energetic campaign to promote iPhone 7 purchases last week, but it now has been toned down, and is only being communicated to customers in mobile-phone shops.
Teranuj Koomsap, executive vice president of Thanachart Bank, said spending with the bank’s credit cards plunged on October 14, the day after His Majesty passed away. Spending now has picked up a bit, but it is not as lively as before.
“Credit-card spending during long weekends normally rises, but it was flat during the recent long weekend,” she said, referring to October 22-24.
TBank has cancelled above-the-line activities for its credit card as well. Normally, the fourth quarter accounts for 30 per cent of its total annual credit-card spending.
TBank has maintained its target for monthly credit-card spending at between Bt2 billion and Bt2.5 billion. However, the bank will carefully monitor the situation into early next year.
Supaneewan Chutrakul, first senior vice president of Kasikornbank, said its customers had used credit cards to purchase black clothing, so overall spending via KBank cards had not slowed as much as expected. However, the bank will review the overall rate of consumption again to analyse how it will affect credit-card spending this quarter.
KBank has cancelled its credit-card promotions during the mourning period, including text messages sent to its customers.