The baht opened at 30.24 to the US dollar on Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday’s close.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 30.20 and 30.35, Krungthai bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool said on Wednesday.
He said the baht was expected to fluctuate in a wide range and could strengthen if the market went into a risk-on state.
Poon alerted investors about a fluctuation caused by the rising bond yield and hope of an economic recovery.
He explained these factors would pressure financial markets, causing emerging market currencies and even the baht to weaken or fluctuate.
In case the baht strengthens, it would be only slightly as importers, especially of commodities, have bought the dollar, he said, adding that the purchasing power of the yen may also increase in the short term.
Metropolitan Police arrested Bottom Blues singer Chaiamorn “Ammy” Kaewwiboonpan on Tuesday night following a Criminal Court arrest warrant against him for arson and violation of Section 112 of the Criminal Code (lese majesty) and Computer Crime Act.
He was arrested at Ratchathani Hospital in Ayutthaya province, where he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified illness.
Chaiamorn had been actively participating in pro-democracy rallies in the past several months.
Police said they tracked him down after CCTV footage in front of the Khlong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district on the night of February 28 showed three suspects – two males and a female – allegedly setting fire to pictures of the royal family in front of the prison’s entrance, before fleeing in a car.
They believe Chaiamorn to be one of the suspects and learned he was in a hospital in Ayutthaya for treatment of an unspecified illness.
Officers plan to transfer Chaiamorn to the Police General Hospital in Bangkok’s Pathumwan district on Wednesday so he can continue his treatment under custody.
Facebook user “Nookool.b” on Tuesday posted photos of six navy officials rescuing four cats from the Phamonsin Nava 10 fishing ship, which had earlier caught fire and began to sink about 13 kilometres off Adang Island in Satun.
Photo Credit: Facebook @nookool.b
“When Navy sailors approached the burning ship to inspect it for any oil spillage as it began sinking, they noticed four cats stranded on board,” Nookool.b wrote. “They carried each cat on their backs and swam back to the Navy vessel until every cat was rescued.”
Photo Credit: Facebook @nookool.b
Apart from being dehydrated, the four felines suffered no injuries and are reportedly in a healthy condition.
All eight of the ship’s crew, who had reportedly jumped off the sinking vessel and into the sea before the Navy arrived, were rescued by a passing fishing ship.
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) has submitted a rehabilitation plan to the official receiver in accordance with a Central Bankruptcy Court order and the planner’s appointment on September 14, 2020, airline acting president Chansin Treenuchagron said on Tuesday.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak last year, THAI and other airlines across the globe have seen substantial losses pile up while lacking cash flow.
The submitted rehabilitation plan aims to fully restructure and help the national flag carrier to regain profitability.
“The airline’s planned recovery is expected to come from its strengths from branding, customer loyalty, service-minded employees, a competitive cost base, and Thailand’s unique geographical advantage as the centre of the Asean region,” the company said in press release.
In 2019, THAI contributed Bt1.2 trillion to the economy – up to 7.2 per cent of national GDP, the airline said.
According to the firm, once the court approves the rehabilitation plan and the Covid-19 crisis is fully contained, THAI will be ready to operate under its new vision – “a private high-quality full-service carrier with a strong Thai brand, connecting Thailand to the world and consistently generating a sustainable profit margin, under the four following pillars:
> “Being the preferred carrier for travel to and from Thailand tailored to the ability to pay of our core customer segments. This will include redesigning our product to deliver a high quality experience but at a lower cost than today, and unbundling the fares that we offer so that customers can access cheaper basic fares and add in ancillary purchases based on individual willingness to pay (for example, seat selection, baggage).
> “Commercial excellence to optimise flight yields and non-flight revenue. This will include moving to a more focused network to ensure we only fly to destinations that are profitable, investing in digital to grow our online sales and boost our revenues through an improved sales experience for customers, rebuilding and retraining our commercial teams to adopt world class systems and ways of working.
> “Cost competitiveness, outperforming our regional peers. This will include restructuring and ‘right-sizing’ the organisation; as a result we expect our people costs to drop by 50 per cent, implementing lease and fleet changes, reducing end to end third party costs through rebuilding our procurement team and actively renegotiating contracts, optimising of all of our business units including through operational excellence interventions.
> “Market leading operations and safety performance, including extensive redesign of processes and operating systems”, the airline said.
These pillars will be underpinned by an extensive capability development across THAI, a concerted effort to change the culture and mindset of the organisation, adoption of new and modern processes, systems and ways of working, adoption of a new set of KPIs and incentives matched to the delivery of the restructuring plan, and revised governance based on world-class private sector practices to ensure full transparency, effective oversight and independence, the airline vowed.
THAI has also established a transformation office and appointed a dedicated chief transformation officer to thoroughly evaluate business opportunities and to execute its transformation plan. The transformation office has already launched more 600 initiatives based on employee proposals that have received approval from the chief financial officer, the press release said.
THAI’s method of transformation has been proven to be highly effective and robust as the method has delivered results in 500+ similar situations globally, including in other airlines and in other successful transformations in Thailand. Based on projections, the transformation programme will generate an earnings before interest and tax margin of approximately 10 per cent by 2025, the statement said.
Since THAI’s petition for rehabilitation was approved by the Central Bankruptcy Court, the airline has already successfully implemented measures to cut costs and to increase revenue, it said.
The measures include increasing flight and non-flight revenue and reducing the number of employees to approximately 14,000-15,000 and optimising the pilot pool to be in parallel with new fleet and flight hour requirements. The reduction of employees in 2020 was primarily facilitated through a voluntary mutual separation programme, which reduced the headcount from 29,000 to 21,000 employees. THAI estimates that an additional 6,000-7,000 employees will participate in the next rounds of the program this year.
Additional high impact measures THAI has taken include, reducing the number of aircraft types from 12 to 5 and reducing the number of engine types from 9 to 4 to reduce costs and complexity and negotiating with aircraft lessors to charge lease based on hourly aircraft usage. These actions have significantly aided THAI’s priority in reducing expenses.
After the filing of the plan, creditors will receive a copy of the restructuring plan from the official receiver. However, as Thai and foreign creditors are still pending payment by the airline, THAI was allowed to publish a copy of the plan in a digital file format to all creditors through a QR code on the creditor meeting notice, which will soon be sent by the official receivers. The print version of the plan will be available by request at the THAI ticketing office on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road from March 8.
Identification evidence or a power of attorney form is required for the request to be approved. Official receivers from the Legal Execution Department will identify the day of the creditors meeting, the press release said.
The planner has come to a consensus to appoint Piyasvasti Amranand and Chakkrit Parapuntakul as plan administrators. Because THAI has successfully implemented major cost-saving measures, the company is confident its rehabilitation plan will ensure it becomes a more efficient and effective airline, ultimately enabling the company to return to profitability, the airline added.
A moderate high-pressure system is covering the Northeast while southerly and southeasterly winds are blowing the humidity from the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand to the lower North, the lower Northeast, the East and the Central region including Bangkok and its vicinity and will bring thunderstorms as well as gusty winds to these areas, the Meteorological Department forecast on Wednesday.
It advised residents in upper Thailand to beware of severe conditions by keeping away from unsecured buildings and outdoor places, while farmers should take action to prevent crop damage.
Here’s the weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Hot with haze during the day, isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds in 10 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 16-25 degrees and highs of 33-39 degrees Celsius.
Northeast: Hot with haze, isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds in 20 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 21-25 degrees and highs of 33-36 degrees Celsius.
Central: Hot with haze, isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds in 30 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 24-26 degrees, highs of 36-38 degrees Celsius.
East: Isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds in 40 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 24-26 degrees, highs of 32-37 degrees Celsius; waves less than metre high and 1 metre offshore.
South (east coast): Isolated thundershowers in 10 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 22-24 degrees, highs of 31-34 degrees Celsius; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Isolated thundershowers in 10 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 23-25 degrees, highs of 34-36 degrees Celsius; waves less than a metre high and 1 metre offshore.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Hot with haze during the day, isolated thundershowers and gusty winds in 20 per cent of the area; temperature lows of 25-26 degrees, highs of 33-36 degrees Celsius.
The Department of Mental Health dismissed Miss Universe Thailand Amanda Chalisa Obdam from her role as the country’s mental health ambassador on Tuesday. The department handed the role to the Thai-Canadian model, 28, on February 25 after she won the beauty crown last October.
The move to revoke her ambassadorship came after the beauty queen drew criticism for her Facebook post about Thai politics. On October 16 she posted a message criticising any form of violence against people. Earlier that day, police used water cannon laced with tear gas to clear a rally by unarmed protesters in Bangkok.
Department director-general Panpimol Wipulakorn explained that the mental health ambassador’s role is to promote mental health work, publicise information and participate in voluntary work for the department.
She said it was revoking Amanda’s title to avoid causing confusion among the public.
The beauty queen had not benefited from any special privileges as mental health ambassador, she added.
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a budget of Bt6.387 billion to procure another 35 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, according to a government spokesperson.
The budget will be split into Bt5.6 billion for AstraZeneca vaccines and Bt700 million for preparation and management at the local level.
This new batch should be available simultaneously with the 26 million AstraZeneca and 2 million Sinovac doses already procured, the spokesperson said. This adds up to 63 million doses or enough to vaccinate 60 per cent of the population this year, he added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health is still negotiating for more doses from other manufacturers as the government prepares to open vaccine registration for members of the general public.
Vaccine passport up for discussion next week, says DDC
NationalMar 02. 2021Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control
By The Nation
The option of vaccine passports and the possibility of changing the mandatory quarantine period will be tabled at the March 8 meeting of the National Communicable Diseases Council.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has instructed health authorities to provide people who have completed their Covid-19 vaccination course with certificates for overseas travel.
As for people wanting to enter Thailand with a vaccination certificate, Dr Opas said he was still uncertain about the issue because the World Health Organisation has yet to establish criteria for a vaccine passport. Hence, he said, international negotiations and mutual agreements may need to be completed first.
This option will also be added to the agenda of the March 8 meeting of the council, which is chaired by Anutin.
“The mandatory quarantine measures in Thailand will be based on the incubation period of the virus, which cannot be determined yet as nobody knows how the vaccine will affect it. The incubation period can be longer or shorter, as vaccines currently do not provide 100-per-cent protection. This will also be discussed at the meeting,” Dr Opas added.
The Thai Army called a press conference on Tuesday to acknowledge its image was tarnished by a fake Covid-19 vaccine scam perpetrated by one of its medics during a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
Army spokesman Lt Gen Santipong Thammapiya confirmed that a Thai Army doctor had offered fake vaccinations to soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The doctor held the rank of lieutenant and was a field medic in the Thai-South Sudan Horizontal Military Engineering Company.
The Army had acknowledged the problem and allowed its soldiers to complete their mission before transporting them back to Thailand in March last year, said Santipong.
“This incident affects the image of the Thai Armed Forces and Thailand in the United Nations mission. It is a serious disciplinary offence and also violates ethical standards as the wrongdoer is a doctor,” he said
The spokesman also revealed the Army medic is accused of deceiving his commanders and troops into receiving vaccinations, claiming it was the head doctor’s order. A UN investigation found he injected them with tetanus vaccine and saline and charged them Bt500 each. The scam netted him more than Bt100,000, according to the investigation.
The medic absconded after being sent back to Thailand, and will be discharged from military service, said Santipong. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Military Court has issued a warrant for his arrest while the Medical Council is considering whether to revoke his doctor’s licence.
The United Nations had acknowledged the incident did not affect Thai soldiers’ performance in their South Sudan peacekeeping mission, which remains active, he added.
Moreover, Thai authorities would deliver Covid-19 vaccine to the troops in South Sudan, while the commander-in-chief had ordered the selection process for Thai peacekeeping missions abroad to be tightened, he said.
The Department of Rail Transport (DRT) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are in talks on Phase 2 of Bangkok’s Mass Rapid Transit Master Plan (M-MAP2), DRT director-general Kittiphan Panchan announced on Tuesday.
M-Map2 covers connectivity of the Green, Red, Blue, Purple, Orange lines as well as the Pink and Yellow monorail services and the Airport Rail Link.
The latest talks between the DRT and its collaborator JICA focus on connectivity of the network and a rail travel demand forecast system.
The study aims to alleviate traffic jams in the city centre by boosting efficiency of the rail mass transit system in metropolitan Bangkok.
Chaiamorn (center)
Photo Credit: Facebook @nookool.b
Amanda Chalisa Obdam
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control
