The two global institutions are also concerned about high household debts in Thailand and have suggested that regulators implement more preventive measures to ensure the stability of the financial system.

BOT governor Veerathai Santiprabhob on Monday (October 7) revealed the outcome of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) conducted by IMF and WB, saying Thailand’s financial system is strong and can withstand market volatility well, while the standards of regulating the market is on par with those in developed countries.

Over the past 10 years, commercial banks have played a key role in the financial sector, while capital market and insurance sector have grown significantly.

“Overall, the country’s financial system has achieved stability, but there are some weak areas that need to be improved,” Veerathai said.

“The weak spots include the fragility of households due to high debts, and the two global institutions have suggested that Thailand implement more preventive measures or a so-called macroprudential policy to ensure the debt problem does not spread to wider sectors of the economy,” he said.

As for effective banking supervision, the central bank has won an excellent score in 24 key areas and a good score on five out of a total of 29 calibrations.

Meanwhile, IMF and WB are urging BOT to strengthen its supervision of state-owned banks, also known as specialised financial institutions (SFIs), and savings cooperatives on par with its supervision of commercial banks. The institutions also urged the central bank to implement more preventives measures to ensure the stability of SFIs and savings cooperatives, as well as establish a committee that is in charge of ensuring the country’s financial stability.

The BOT, meanwhile, will assess risks in the financial system using a forward-looking approach to ensure the system can cope with changes in the future, understand how new risks may emerge and how regulators can handle them.

“The BOT will work closely with related regulators in order to better understand financial risks and adjust regulations in time to guard financial stability in a sustainable manner,” he added.

Apart from BOT, the IMF and the World Bank also evaluated the other two major financial market regulators, namely the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Insurance Commission.

The FSAP aims to promote prudential supervision, strengthen financial systems as well as boost confidence in the local financial market and the economy as a whole.

TRIS has given the company an “A” rating with “Stable” outlook and an issue rating of “BBB+” with “Stable” outlook. B Grimm has appointed Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, KASIKORNBANK, Siam Commercial Bank, Phatra Securities and Asia Plus Securities to arrange the issuance. Preeyanart Soontornwata, B Grimm’s president, said the company had recently applied to the Stock Exchange Commission of Thailand to seek approval to offer its first subordinated perpetual debentures worth Bt6 billion, with Bt2 billion of green-shoe options. The key purpose of the issuance is to boost capital for upcoming expansion opportunities. “B Grimm has been beating investors’ expectation since its IPO in 2017, with its ability to develop and operate private power plants of all types, both inside and outside the country. We have expanded from 30 power projects with 1,646MW installed capacity to 45 projects with 2,892MW installed capacity in the course of just two years. We have also commenced two solar-power plants in Vietnam of 257MW and 420MW installed capacity, which are seen as the largest solar-power projects in Asean, in addition to a hydro-power plant in Laos. Now we are exploring investment opportunities in South Korea, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines,” Preeyanart said. BGRIM is one of the core businesses under the B.Grimm Group, which has been leading and pioneering Thailand’s infrastructure development for over 140 years. With its businesses focused on electricity generation, B Grimm has been operating in Thailand for more than 20 years. Approximately 75 per cent of its power plant projects are based domestically, while 25 per cent are overseas. It aims to expand its power production capacity to 5,000MW by 2022.

According to Robert Parker, a senior executive of IDC, a global provider of market intelligence and other services, about 50 per cent of the world’s businesses will be digital by 2022, while worldwide growth in digital and related investment is estimated to be 17.5 per cent per year.

Speaking at Dassault Systemes’ 3D Experience conference in Shanghai, China, last month, Parker suggested that this will lead to a new era of cyber-physical manufacturing using AI (artificial intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things) and other digital tools on a large scale.

The key elements of a new digital platform will have an intelligent core driven by data, insights and actions in both internal and external processes. People, connected machines, robots, IoT, AR/VR and other mobile devices will work together for the integration and orchestration of services to drive manufacturing in the new eco-system.

The new eco-system also connects customers with smart factories for mass-customisation of products, real-time orders to factory floors and digital-twin product manufacturing and service, with a feedback loop in an AI-driven product design process.

According to Parker, the new industrial platform and economies of intelligence represent a significant shift from the economies of scale as pioneered by Henry Ford about 100 years ago to the economies of scope (GM), and later economies of learning (Toyota).

As a result, the post-Industrial 4.0 era will be driven by the value of massive data as well as an organisation’s capacity to learn and synthesize the contents.

Guillaume Vendroux, CEO of Dassault Systemes’ Delmia brand, said at the same conference that the top agenda for the global manufacturing sector is to reduce carbon footprint for a more sustainable planet with more products in harmony with nature.

This means operation optimization, better planning, cross-border collaboration, reduction of wastes, agility, speed, and maximization of value creation for a better profit.

Michael Larson, a top executive at ABB, said the new generation of factories will be more flexible with human workers working alongside robots safely and efficiently to further boost productivity.

He also noted that 50 per cent of the global demand is forecast to shift to Asia around 2030 when electric vehicle (EV) transformation, product individualization, shorter product life- cycles, and regionalization of supply chain will likely play the leading role.

Mark Chen, a senior executive of Huawei, said the Chinese telecom and tech giant is positioned to take advantage of the emerging industrial internet, with its cloud 2.0 platform facilitating AI and 5G (fifth-generation cellular) in smart production for small and big manufacturers.

This will boost productivity as well as product quality and lead to products as a service like software as a service (Saas).

The process will be gradual, creating an intelligent supply chain, logistic, flexible production and operation optimization using big data.

Albert Pozo, chief digital officer of commercial catering firm SATS, said a good example of manufacturing in the age of experience is the inflight catering business in which digital-twin tech is used to create a virtual kitchen for the best practice in the industry, covering food excellence, chefs’ know- how and other key features.

Digital twins are also used in 3D visualization for remote technical consultation. A new Shanghai factory setup can benefit from the skills of US-based experts using a 3D visualization technology with AR/VR devices.

Sensors, RFID, and Wifi equipment are also used in the new generation of factories and connected machines in an eco-system of data-rich network and apps.

Dassault Systemes also showcased its Solidworks brand in Bangkok last week, with highlights from two users of its products, namely, Brainworks and Institute of Field Robotics at King Mongkut University of Technology Thonburi.

Steven Chiu, senior sales manager for Asean and Asia Pacific South of Dassault Systemes said, the cyber-physical age for manufacturing is set to make big impacts worldwide.

This will allow mass customization for production of cars and trucks, for example, on the cloud platform with multiple apps for collaboration. Designers, engineers and other experts can work together on the platform in real time across borders as if they were in the same room.

In Thailand, Chatchai Pholmoon of Brainworks said the Thai firm uses the 3D Experience platform for special tool designing and customization for customers such as those needing robotic hands in the manufacturing of automotive parts and bathroom accessories.

For example, one automatic machine can be designed to produce 7 different models of an accessory for mass-customisation of products.

He said the Thai food and beverage industry also has a growing demand for special robots and a gripping system to automate its food production system.

Wuttichai Visarnkuna of Institute of Field Robotics said Solidworks’ software has been used to design a bomb and human detection robot for a Thai military unit responsible for countering terrorism in southern Thailand.

The banks will likely see their combined net profit falling 4 per cent year on year to Bt50.156 billion in the quarter. The eight posted high net profits in the same period last year.

When excluding special items, their financial performance in the period is expected to be flat or a slight growth.

The ratio of non-performing loans is estimated at 3.66 per cent of total loans, versus 3.64 per cent in the second quarter of the year.

The new package would be announced after October 10, he told a group of reporters. He hinted at the impending measures after the ministry offered Bt100 tickets for domestic travel as a supplement to the Eat, Shop and Spend scheme.

He said he would consult the Finance Ministry on whether it could cut tariffs, some as high as about 40 per cent, on brand-name products.

“I do not want Thai people to go abroad for shopping brand-name products, which results in money leaking out of the domestic economy,” he said. “If Thai travellers could buy brand-name products here at reasonable prices, then that money would be injected into the local economy,” he said.

Moreover, foreign tourists who visit Thailand would spend more here if they could buy brand-name products at cheaper prices than at present, he said.

Meanwhile, Lavaron Sangsnit, director-general at the Fiscal Policy Office of the Finance Ministry told The Nation that there were several factors to take into account before the government decides to cut taxes. The average tariff rate on luxury brands is about 30 per cent, he said.

He said the issue had been discussed many times in the past, and Thai retailers also wanted the government to cut tariff rates.

The government did cut the tariff rate by 15 per cent 10 years ago, but it did not have much of an effect on the prices of luxury goods. The prices of branded products such as leather bags dropped by only 5 per cent, he revealed.

He pointed out that brand-name owners may implement a different price strategy for different countries or economies. For example, in Asia they apparently designate Hong Kong as the place for the cheapest price of luxury goods followed by Singapore, he said.

Lavaron, however, admitted that these things might change. “So we need to look into the tax matter from many angles, and new factors,” he said.

The tourism minister also wants medical tourists to go for treatments out of Bangkok to potential provinces such as Hat Yai in Songkhla in the South.

He said Thailand is lucky as, despite the decline in medical tourists from the Middle East, there had been a rise in medical tourists in recent times from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The government agencies will also try to bid for big events, such as international conferences and trade exhibitions to be held in the country. He said his ministry plans to organise a global e-sport event next year in order to help Thai youth get experience of the new sports. A marathon running event for new couples who want to spend their wedding or honeymoon in Thailand on Valentine’s day will also be held, he said.

Tourist attraction events related to local folklore, legends or history will be held all year round in 77 provinces next year, he revealed.

He said he would discuss with the Interior Minister about the streamlining of immigration procedures in order to provide more convenience.

The government also wanted to send a strong message to tourists that it would make serious efforts to reduce plastic waste and tackle air pollution, he said. He added that the ministry would next year try to keep the number of tourist arrivals the same as this year, as the global economic slowdown and trade tensions have adversely impacted tourism.

While almost all economic indicators in August pointed to the economy slowing down, the number of foreign tourists continued to be on the rise, according to the Bank of Thailand

Some 38.2 million foreign tourists visited Thailand last year, up 7.3 per cent from the previous year. The number of tourist arrivals in the first eight months (January to August) this year were 26.6 million, up 2.8 per cent year on year, according to the central bank.