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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40014201

Headline inflation in March saw the highest year-on-year increase in 13 years, the Trade Policy and Strategy Office said on Tuesday. Headline inflation was recorded at 104.79 points, up 5.73 per cent from the same month last year.

Trade Policy and Strategy Office chief Ronnarong Phoolpipat told a press conference that March headline inflation had also increased month on month, by 0.66 per cent compared to February’s 104.10 points.

Headline inflation in February had already broken a 13-year record with an increase of 5.28 per cent, but it was even higher in March, Ronnarong said.

The increase in headline inflation was 4.75 per cent in the first quarter, compared to the same quarter last year, Ronnarong said.

He added that core inflation in March, which excludes the impact from fresh food and energy prices, stood at 102.43 points, an increase of 0.23 per cent from February and 2.0 per cent year on year.

Ronnarong said headline inflation rose steeply in March because energy prices spiked by 32.43 per cent. He said the main impact — 32.43 per cent — came from the rise in oil prices, and 39.95 per cent from the increase in power bills. Moreover, the prices of fresh vegetables increased by 9.96 per cent, meat, pork and chicken by 5.74 per cent, and eggs and milk by 6.08 per cent.

Ronnarong said March saw increases in the prices of 280 items, including electricity, fuel, lunch meals per dish, cooking oil and water bills.

He said the trend of the first three months showed that inflation would continue to increase in April as the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war still has an impact on prices.

Ronnarong added that his office had adjusted the estimated inflation of 2022 from 0.7-2.4 per cent to 4-5 per cent. The initial inflation estimate was made in November last year, before the war broke out, so the estimate was revised based on the current situation, he added.

Published : April 05, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40014184

The baht opened at 33.44 to the US dollar on Tuesday, strengthening from Monday’s close of 33.51.

Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool predicted the Thai currency would move between 33.35 and 33.55 during the day.

Poon said that the baht is likely to swing in a wide range but with no clear sign of direction. Uncertainty over the Ukraine-Russia conflict has been causing the dollar to strengthen and the baht to weaken over the past six weeks.

Meanwhile, the worsening Covid-19 situation in China may pressure currencies in Asia, especially Asian economies heavily exposed to China.

However, the baht is being supported by foreign inflows to the Thai market. Foreign investors continue to buy Thai assets, especially both short- and long-term bonds.

Poon forecast a resistance level for the baht of 33.70, at which point exporters would offload the dollar. He predicted a key support level of 33.20, which would spur importers to buy dollars.

Amid the current high volatility in the currency market, businesses should use hedging tools such as options to manage risks, he added.

Published : April 05, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40014166

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is keeping pace with changing times by allowing the digital asset market to be in lockstep with the traditional capital market so they can have parallel growth, making it easier for all groups of investors.

The SET plans to launch this year “Live Exchange”, a funding platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups, as well as facilitate the expansion and easier access to both investment and utility tokens. 

The Thai Digital Assets Exchange (TDX) will offer more flexibility to all groups of investors to facilitate investing in both traditional capital and digital markets, allowing a range of options to invest and raise capital.
Speaking at the forum: “The New Paradigm Shift Of The Financial World”, hosted by The Nation and Asia News Network on March 30, the president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Pakorn Peetathawatchai, shared the goal of evolving and connecting the capital market and digital asset market to ensure growth and sustainability for both business and society.
Offering an overview of the market, he said in 2021, the Thai capital market had continued to grow and was the 7th biggest in Asia and 18th in the world in market cap. He said the Thai capital market has been the biggest in Asean for almost a decade. 

The SET estimates the key developments in the Thai capital market through three strategies: market growth; infrastructure expansion, environmental solution and social development.
The SET wants to make the capital market more accessible by simplifying the procedures for opening new trading accounts, encouraging retail investors to use a digital platform for trading, and attracting young investors.
He said the SET is going to offer an open platform, but he made it clear that they will not touch crypto. He made the point that most of the digital asset trading as of now revolves around cryptocurrency. The TDX platform would be launched in the third quarter this year including the investment and utility tokens, he said.
Fundraising through tokenisation is now a global trend. Also, many features for investors are available according to their needs, while upholding investor protection measures. Investors can improve token liquidity by trading in the secondary digital asset exchange. Most digital asset exchanges are open 24/7. The settlement cycle is extremely fast compared with the traditional type. So, tokenisation can solve the problem for retail investors as it involves lower cost and offers more liquidity. As a result investors have more chances to make higher profit, he said.
All investments carry risks, and there are pros and cons in both the traditional and digital markets. The SET has an important role of setting strict criteria for investors. All protocols are only part of measures to protect the sector against scammers and confusing information. Hence, the Thai SET plans all strategies to generate the most benefit to investors, he said.

Published : April 04, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40014152

The National Credit Bureau has reported that Covid-19 restrictions over two years have caused the non-performing loans (NPLs) of small-time borrowers and small and medium enterprises to rise to 200 billion baht and 320 billion baht respectively.

While reporting Thailand’s NPL situation at a recent seminar, the bureau also called on the government to come up with measures to help small-time debtors and SMEs, whose loans had become NPLs due to the Covid-19 crisis.

NPLs of small-time debtors and SMEs caused by the Covid crisis have been coded O21. The bureau said it learned that the O21 borrowers had been prompt with their payments before the Covid-19 crisis broke out in 2019 and their loans only became NPLs because they were unable to make payments for 90 days or more.

As of 2021 end, the bureau said there were 4.3 million NPL accounts, and 2.3 million of them were O21 NPLs worth 200 billion baht.

The bureau added that these O21-code debtors deserve help from the government because it is not their fault that they defaulted on their payments. It pointed out that these debtors were unable to pay their debts because they had complied with the Covid-containment measures taken by the Public Health Ministry.

The bureau also said the accumulated NPL of small-time debtors under all codes and categories at the end of 2021 stood at 950 billion baht, up 7.5 per cent compared to the end of 2020.

The accumulated debt (including NPLs) held by small-time borrowers can be divided by age group, with Gen Z (1997-2012) owing 97 billion baht, Gen Y (1981-1996) 4.5 trillion baht, Gen X (1965-1981) 3.8 trillion baht, Baby Boomers (1946-1964) 1.1 trillion baht and the Silent Generation (1928-1945) owing 26 billion baht, the report said.

Meanwhile, SMEs owe about 3.93 trillion baht, it said. As of the end of 2021, 286,300 SMEs with juristic entity status have accumulated NPLs worth 320 billion baht or 7.9 per cent of the overall loans for SMEs.

The report said SMEs that have been unable to service their debts hail from the hotel and food industry, property and construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the repairing of vehicles and motorcycles.

The report said SMEs from these five industries had accumulated NPLs worth 270 billion baht and have joined debt-restructuring programmes worth 250 billion baht.

The bureau also said that household debt is continuing to rise. As of the end of the fourth quarter of last year, household debt stood at 14.58 trillion, compared to 14.34 trillion at the end of the third quarter.

It said the Bank of Thailand has helped restructure 4.83 million household debts worth 3.19 trillion baht at the end of January this year.

Published : April 04, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/40014144

The baht opened at 33.48 to the US dollar on Monday, weakening from Friday’s close of 33.46.

The Thai currency is expected to move between 33.40 and 33.60 during the day and between 33.20 and 33.80 during the week, Krungthai market strategist Poon Panichpibool said.

Poon said that the baht is likely to swing widely if foreign investors switch to selling over market concern that the US Federal Reserve will adopt quantitative tightening as early as next month (May).

He forecast that exporters would sell the dollar at a resistance level of 33.70.

Poon said that amid the current high volatility in the currency market, businesses should use hedging tools such as options to manage risks.

For the dollar, he expected uncertainty over the Ukraine-Russia conflict to drive up demand for the US currency, which is seen as a safe haven.

However, he advised investors to heed Fed signals to reduce the balance sheet or apply tightening, as these moves would increase the US bond yield and cause dollar fluctuations.

Published : April 04, 2022

By : THE NATION