“This campaign is in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s policy to promote the economy during Chinese New Year and the submission of VAT data via www.epayment.go.th,” she said. “Those who registered and made purchases during the Chinese New Year festival (February 1-15, 2019) will be entitled to a maximum Bt1,000 VAT refund per person by the end of November.”

“The Comptroller General’s Department has finalised the processing of VAT data of each registered person and will transfer money to their registered promptpay account starting Friday (November 29),” she added. “There are 6,918 registrants in total with an accumulated VAT refund due of Bt705,440.”

Strong winds from Surat Thani northward will whip waves up to 2 metres and from Nakhon Si Thammarat southward up to 4 metres, rising even higher during storms. All ships should proceed with caution and stay away from heavy weather. Run off from rainfall and flash foods are likely on the Gulf side of the coast.

In the upper part of Thailand, the department forecast cool weather in the morning with fair skies. The North and Northeast plateaus will experience temperatures between 16-22 °C while the mountains will be considerably colder at 8-15 °C.

The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is as follows:

Northern region: Cool to cold with mist in the morning, temperature lows of 16-22 degrees and highs of 31-35 degrees Celsius. Temperature likely to drop to 8-12 degrees on hilltops.

Northeastern region: Cool weather in the morning with strong wind, temperatures lows 17-22 degrees and highs of 31-33 degrees Celsius. Temperature likely to drop to 10-15 degrees on hilltops.

Central region: Partly cloudy and cool in the morning and strong wind; lows 22-25 degrees, highs 33-36 degrees Celsius.

Eastern region: Mostly cloudy and strong wind; lows 24-26 degrees, highs 34-36 degree Celsius; wave height 1-2 metres.

Southern region (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thunder showers in 60 per cent of the area and partly heavy rains; lows of 23-26 degrees, high 30-33 degrees Celsius; wave height 2-4 metres, increasing to 4 metres during storms.

Southern region (west coast): Mostly cloudy with thunder showers in 60 per cent of the area and partly heavy rains; lows 23-25 degrees, highs 31-33 degree Celsius; wave height 1-2 metres, increasing to 2 metres during storms.

Bangkok and surrounding area: Mostly cloudy and strong wind; lows of 24-26 degrees, highs 33-37 degrees Celsius.

The delay was not totally unexpected.

A ban was imposed on paraquat from 2005-2007 in Malaysia before multinational chemical companies teamed up with the country’s palm-rubber industry to successfully pressure the government to lift it.

However, this time round, the Malaysian government was not able to resist the pressure from within the country and abroad. It will restart the ban on January 1, 2020.

The Sri Lankan government announced a ban on glyphosate for all crops in 2015, it then limited use of the chemical to rubber and tea in mid-2018 after a campaign by giant chemical companies.

The US government under president Obama banned the use of chlorpyrifos in 2015. After Donald Trump became the US president, Scott Pruitt who has a close relationship with Dow Chemical Company, was appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pruitt lifted the ban on the toxic chemicals harmful to children, but was forced to resign after a US court ruled that the ban must be restored with 60 days. The case is currently in the appeal process.

Factors affecting Thailand

1. US government

As soon as the Hazardous Substance Committee announced the ban on glyphosate and two other toxic substances on October 18, 2019, the US government led by Ted McKinny, undersecretary of Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs who had worked in the Dow Chemical Company for 19 years, wrote a letter to the Thai government in opposition to the ban of glyphosate. In the letter, the undersecretary claimed that baning glyphosates will 1) lead to Thailand using more expensive chemicals costing Bt75-125 billion, 2) are not based on sound science, suggesting the Thai government should consider the use of risk assessment data from EPA and 3) will affect US exports of soy beans, wheat, and other agricultural products to Thailand, worth a total of Bt51 billion a year.

2. Thailand’s colossal animal feed industry

Thailand’s animal feed industry is the number one manufacturer of animal feed in the world. It supported the US stance, claiming that the ban on glyphosate would affect the feed, livestock and food industries, resulting in trillion-baht losses and leaving 2 million people unemployed. They also spread the news that pet food-exporting countries would raise the issue with Thai government.

Their view was different to that of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand which supported a ban of three years, and had asked the government to allow imports of raw materials with glyphosate residue at international standard level.

3. A network of pesticide companies under the leadership of CropLife which has a branch in Thailand, the Thai Agricultural Innovation Trade Association (TAITA)

An anti-ban statement was announced by multinational corporations, namely Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow-Dopp and BASF who were major players in opposition to the ban and had been joined by two pesticide trading associations, the Thai Crop Protection Association and the Thai Agro Business Association.

The content of the statement coincided with a letter from the US government which questioned the ban on scientific findings and citing its effect on the Thai economy.

4. Politicans in the government

It is not surprising that 2 ministers from Palang Pracharat and Democratic are keymen against the ban.

4.1) Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Industry Minister, was the first person in the government to make a request for a re-consideration of the ban of glyphosate after assuming his position as chairman of the National Hazardous Substances Committee.

4.2) Chalermchai Srion, in a letter on 18 September 2019, suggested to the Ministry of Agriculture restricted use of the chemicals, instead of banning the three 3 toxic substances.

His role became more clear when he appointed Anan Suwannarat, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, to head a research on the effect and remedial measures for farmers.

Anan published information which were seen in favour of ending the ban, citing 1) is against the WTO agreement, 2) claiming 75 per cent of farmers protest the ban, 3) unable to find sufficient substitution/replacement chemicals, 4) compensation for farmers to change to other chemicals is too high, costing tens of billion of baht, 5) there are restrictions on sending chemicals back to the country of origin / third country and 6) affecting the economy and causing a rise in the jobless rate.

It now depends on whether the public will accept the 6 reasons for lifting the ban. Is there any reason to support it? Is it just an excuse to benefit the chemical and feed industries and will the Thai government cave in to US pressure ?

Thanawat Pholwichai, director of the school’s Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, said on Thursday (November 28) the survey taken from November 11-23 covered 1,201 people nationwide.

More than 88 per cent of respondents said they were in debt, mainly due to general expenditures such as buying a vehicle or house, and to credit card spending related to their jobs.

More than 59 per cent cited formal debt and 40.8 per cent informal debt. Monthly instalments were costing them Bt16,000 on formal debt and Bt5,222 on informal debt.

Thanawat expressed concern about the historic level of household debt, which he attributed to stagnating economic growth, global trade conflicts and higher prices for consumers goods.

Many people yearn to be thriftier and reduce their cost of living but cannot because the price of goods continues rising, he said.

He expected more government economic stimuli will be needed by the middle of the first quarter of 2020 to continue floating the economy.

The adviser to the Public Health Minister, Prapon Tangsrikertikul, presided over the opening.

This hospital is one of 32 which allows patients to use cannabis oil in case standard treatments are unable to control the symptoms of the disease. The process is under the supervision of professional physicians.

“This clinic will provide treatment to patients who have one of two diseases — multiple sclerosisand the final stage of cancer,” said Prapon.

“The medical personnel will give advice and make a follow-up evaluation after the patients receive cannabis oil, and also establish guidelines for patients who have adverse symptoms with physicians and nurses from the emergency room.”

The clinic will open every third Thursday of the month from 1pm to 4.30pm on the second storey of the outpatient administration building.

The show has as its concept “Ride and Drive Together Now” and will also spotlight the Porsche Cayenne Coupe, Volvo V60, BMW X4 M, Ford Everest Sport, Honda City, Honda Civic Hatchback, Hyundai Veloster, Mazda CX-8, Mini John Cooper Works Clubman, Mitsubishi Triton Athlete, Nissan Almera, Nissan GT-R 50th Anniversary and Toyota Yaris ATIV.

For those who prefer two wheels, there’ll be hotly anticipated motorcycles and, of course, the “big bikes”.

The exposition will have 34 brands of cars and 26 brands of motorcycles, and dealers are expecting to sell 50,000 of the former and 9,000 of the latter.

The event is likely to generate Bt56 billion in spending.

Anurak Saenviang, Piya Pookchit and Supol Muensriprom led more than 10,300 people from various groups based in 17 provinces in the East and Northeast.

Anurak said the farmers faced severe difficulty cultivating their land and those in the Northeast, where water was scarce year-round, needed solar-powered pumps.

“We want the ministry to also consider urgently establishing community power plants to assure the farmers of a more stable living,” he said.

Deputy Minister Suraporn Danaitangtrakul, general secretary Anurut Nakasai and minister’s adviser Yukol Chanawatpanya heard the appeals and accepted the petition on the minister’s behalf.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Thai Industries announced the conclusion on Thursday (November 28).

Wuttipong Jittungsakul, director of the Savings and Investment Policy Bureau, and Pisit Puapan, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Bureau under the Fiscal Policy Office, said the Confidence Index in the West and Northeast increased to 65.6 points, which they attributed to enhancements in the agriculture and services sectors.

The North hit 63.8 based on support for the industrial sector via the government’s economic stimulus measures for SME entrepreneurs, they said, while the East rose to 60.8.

The South was at 59.5 points while the Central region rose to 56.1, with Bangkok separately registering 50 points, both thanks to the enhancement of employment.

Double A president Yothin Dumnernchanvanit said his firm saw the importance of fostering a new generation of Thais who could keep up with global digital developments and help support the nation’s economy.

“Double A decided to support UTCC in building the co-working space for learning and devising ideas, where new-gens startups of the future will be conceived under concept of business-driven innovation,” he said.

“Its strong point is mentor service. There will be UTCC professors to advise the students and entrepreneurs who are determined to become professional businesspeople.”

As well as a co-working space, there are meeting rooms for private activities and group projects and a multi-purpose space for workshops that’s fully equipped with digital equipment.

Double A has installed its “Fastprint” printers by which documents can be transferred to paper via a phone application around the clock.

“Our new package takes the lead from the government’s “Ban Dee Mee Dawn” campaign, announced on November 26, under which a Bt50,000 subsidy will be offered to each homebuyers with an annual income of less than Bt1.2 million. About 100,000 taxpayers come under this category,” Payong said.

KTB’s mortgage campaign will further ease the financial burden of homebuyers. It will offer Bt5,500 towards installment payments to each of the first 1,000 borrowers, while the 1,001st to 10,000th customers will receive an additional discount in first-year interest rate at 0.1 per cent.

“Customers in specific career groups including medical doctors, judges and lawyers, air pilots, college professors and Bank of Thailand’s employees are eligible for special repayment rate at Bt1,000 per month for every Bt1 million in loans,” he added.

Furthermore, first-home buyers of properties costing less than Bt3 million each before December 24 will enjoy reduced transfer and mortgage fees from 2 and 1 per cent to 0.01 per cent, according to the Cabinet’s policy announced earlier last month to boost property sales at year -end.

Registrations for the “Ban Dee Mee Dawn” campaign commences on December 11, 2019