Myanmar and Thailand also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) ton October 1 to boost the transfer of goods across the second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, which Jurin said should be turned into a permanent crossing point between the two countries by October 30, pending Cabinet approval.

The bridge over Moei River connects Tak’s Mae Sot district and Myawaddy in Myanmar.

As for border businesses asking for the bridge to be kept open until midnight, he said the Foreign Ministry will have discuss this option with its counterpart in Myanmar.

He also said that merchants have asked for the border markets in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Mae Hong Son and Kanchanaburi to be improved, adding that this option also needs to be discussed between both sides.

According to the Department of Foreign Trade, border trade between Thailand and Myanmar over the first eight months of 2019 was valued at Bt133.86 billion, marking an increase of 4.73 per cent from the same period last year. However, exports were only worth Bt68.9 billion, down by 4.1 per cent, while imports accounted for Bt64.9 billion, up 16.08 billion.

Thailand mainly exports diesel and refined oil, capital goods, construction tools and machinery to Myanmar.

The minister, who will be meeting the airline’s chairman Ekniti Nitithanprapas and some top executives, said they will discuss the THAI’s existing rehabilitation plan, which he doesn’t believe will help the carrier make a turnaround.

Thaworn said this rehabilitation plan has been implemented for a while now, but there is still no sign of the losses easing.

In fact, he said, he is worried THAI will experience a loss of Bt10 billion this year.

Hence, he believes THAI will first have to revise the rehab plan and come up with a revised version within three months.

If the airline insists on using the existing plan, related persons will have to be responsible if something goes wrong with THAI in the future, he said.

Separately, Thaworn said the budget carrier Thai AirAsia is seeking government support in many areas, including getting airports to adopt a facial-recognition system for check in and the expansion of runways at the Mae Sot and Betong airports.

Thaworn said he has already set up a public-private panel to study the possibility of introducing a facial-recognition based check-in system and expects a report on this by the end of the month. The time period for the study will be extended by 15 days if it’s not ready and the system can be tested at one airport within this year.

The TFRS9 will take effect in January next year.

The central bank currently require banks to keep a reserve against incurred loss, but under the new financial reporting standard, banks and other financial institutions will be required to provide loan reserve against expected loss. The TFRS9 is based on the concept of forward-looking information.

The 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the US had resulted in many financial institutions going bust and the International Accounting Standard (IASB) had to develop new accouting rules, in a bid to prevent the crisis from happening again. The new rules of IFRS9 were adopted in 2013.

The Bank of Thailand has worked with the Federation of Accounting Professions and private auditors in adopting the IFRS9 in Thailand. The central bank is confident of banks’ compliance after conducting a parallel run on loan reserve calculation, Yuphin said.

Thai banks, on average, have high loan reserve at 110 per cent to 150 per cent of doubtful debts.

An impact on banks is that their net interest rate margin may be wider as they could count expected interest income promised by bad-debt borrowers.

The new accounting rules will be applied to state-owned banks in 2025, she added.

International investors made net sales of Bt780 million and the Net Long Thailand Futures Exchange had 1,350 contracts.

A Krungsri Securities analyst has predicted that the stock market might slide to 1,590-1,600 points due to worries about the new US-EU trade protectionism after a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling allowed the US to raise tariffs on merchandises from the EU worth US$7.5 billion as European governments were found to have illegally subsidised aeronautics giant Airbus.

The US measure will be effective from October 18 while the EU has announced it will react to this move. Following the WTO ruling, the US could impose tariffs on a range of EU goods from aircraft to cheese and olives. The two sides are also awaiting a WTO ruling on tariffs the EU can impose against the US in retaliation for state subsidies provided to American aerospace giant Boeing.

Meanwhile, job growth in the US private sector has dwindled, pointing towards a possible recession. The crude oil price has dropped to US$53 per barrel because of increasing stocks. Concerns over slowdown in demand due to economic conditions are another factor that has pushed down the power business group and the index.

“The campaign’s second phase to be launched in the last quarter aims to help boost Thailand’s economic situation, since the global economy is slowing down and internal political conflicts have started erupting. Income from tourism will help carry the economy through this crisis,” he said.

The government plans to invite another 100,000 local shops to join the campaign in a move to boost the value of the local economy, while Somkid has called on related agencies to hold seminars upcountry to encourage local businesses.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said his ministry was considering the number of registrants for the second phase. The first phase only allowed 10 million people to register.

Since 2007, the US Agriculture Ministry has only allowed in mangoes that passed the gamma radiation test.

To solve the problem, the National Research Office, the Office of Economic Development, Naresuan University and the National Institute of Nuclear Technology have worked together on research following Boston Consulting Group model (BCG) by monitoring the mango, both pre-radiated and after the radiation process, until it achieved US standards. Many mangoes treated with this process have been shipped to US stores since September.

Several start-ups working in collaboration with 7 universities in Thailand’s north, including Recute, a recycled garbage system company, NU Bio Bag, a bio-plastic bag maker, and TRIBES, distributor of tea and coffee products from hilltribe minorities in Chiang Rai, Suvit added.