Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Surachate Hakparn said yesterday that the measure encouraged higher spending by tourists from these countries, estimated at a total of Bt122 billion in the last three months.

Since the measure began on November 15, 2018, 2,346,971 arrivals have come under the scheme as of March 31, including 1,704,539 Chinese, 467,435 Indians, and 174,997 of other nationalities.

While the measure may have costed the bureau Bt4.693 billion in visa fees, it was more than offset by higher spending.

SCB IN PAYMENTS DEAL

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) recently teamed up with Ria Money Transfer, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide and a leading company in cross-border money remittances, to provide cash payout remittance services in Thailand.

The agreement allows customers in Thailand to receive money transfers sent from all over the world through Ria with greater convenience. Recipients can collect cash quickly and securely at any of SCB’s more than 1,000 branches nationwide without the need for a bank account.

Srihanath Lamsam, executive vice president of Siam Commercial Bank’s Payment Product Function Department noted that Thailand is a major Asian nation and the recipient of a large amount of international money transfers, with SCB alone receiving more than 800,000 transactions last year. More than 70 per cent of these transactions come from the US where Ria has a strong retail presence through agents and company-owned stores in addition to their online channels.

STOCKS’ BRIGHT START

The Thai bourse posted positive return in the first quarter despite foreign investors mostly staying on the sidelines, waiting for a clearer picture of domestic and external Issues, according to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

At the end of March, the SET Index rose 4.8 per cent from the end of last year to 1,638.65 points, moving in line with its regional peers, with the average daily trading turnover of Bt41.83 billion, down 10.5 per cent from a month earlier. Agriculture and agro-industry, technology, resources, property and service groups outperformed the SET Index.

Soraphol Tulayasathien, SET’s senior executive vice president, said local institutional investors net bought Thai stocks for a 20th straight month, while March’s daily trading turnover on Thailand Futures Exchange rose 31 per cent from the previous month , reflecting investors’ enhanced risk management.

In the month, foreign investors net sold Thai stocks worth Bt16.44 billion.

At the end of March, dividend yield was 3.16 per cent, higher than Asian bourses’ average at 2.77 per cent. The SET Index’s forward and historical price to earnings ratios, at the end of March, stayed at 14.9 and 17.1 times, compared to Asian bourses’ average at 14 and 16 times.

  The agency next year will set up 13 smart cities in the provinces and will join business partners to showcase smart city solutions.

Passakorn Prathombuts, DEPA’s senior executive vice president, said the agency aims to develop smart cities to cover 77 provinces in the next five years in order to improve the quality of life and boost the country’s competitiveness.

The agency aims to play the role of a facilitator to support both the private and public sectors in helping the development of smart cities.

The agency, under the City Dara platform, will collect unstructured and structured information such as traffic data, CCTV, WiFi access and transportation to create a mega-data market place of the cities.

In the next step, the agency plans to develop various solutions for smart city development, including smart environment, smart mobility, smart people, smart governance, smart energy, smart living and smart economy.

“We have a pilot City Data platform in Phuket and aim to transfer knowledge for development of other smart cities in the next step,” said Passakorn.

He added that within the next year, the agency would develop smart cities in 13 provinces such as Chiang Rai, Nan, Krabi, and Mukdahan. As result, the country will see development of smart cities covering 20 provinces by the end of next year. The agency aims to make Thailand the centre of smart city development in Asean by 2032 and a Thai city will be ranked in the world’s top 10 smart cities in 2036.

“The government wants the smart city concept to be driven by local citizens and the private sector. The government will act as facilitator to support the eco-system, basic infrastructure, set the standard and regulations as well as provide grants or seed funding,” said Passakorn.

He added that some of the technologies that drive a smart city are Internet of Things, big data, 5G network and artificial intelligence.

Richard Li, general manager of Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai), said in order to develop smart cities in Thailand, the company has joined hands with DEPA to set up the Thailand Building Fair, Thailand Lighting Fair and Secutech Thailand.

The three events, held in conjunction with Digital Thailand Big Bang, will offer an overview of smart city development. Intrinsic elements such as smart and energy-efficient lighting and building as well as smart security and safety systems will all be present under one roof during the show and will offer a unique insight into how smart city development can create sustainable and modern environments for every citizen in Asean to live, work and thrive.

The events will be held from October 28-31.

Messe Frankfurt’s brand shows for the smart city industry Secutech Thailand, Thailand Lighting Fair and Thailand Building Fair will showcase innovative smart city solutions, while the focus on digital infrastructure will be at the DEPA-organised Digital Thailand Big Bang show. The four shows will embrace this new theme to serve as a one-stop shop for the latest smart city technology and solutions.

Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president of DEPA, said the collaboration would mark a noteworthy new milestone for Smart City Solutions Week in Thailand. The adoption of the smart city concept is an undeniable trend in Asean cities. The agency hoped that industry players would take advantage of these integrated solutions and build a networking platform across the smart city ecosystem.

Kasikorn Research Centre (KResearch) yesterday revised down the country’s economic growth for 2019 to 3.7 per cent from its earlier estimate of 4 per cent, KResearch assistant managing director Nattaporn Triratanasirikul said.

TNSC chairman Ghanyapad Tantipipatpong said that given the negative factors, the council has cut its forecast for this year’s export growth to 3 per cent from the earlier estimate of 5 per cent. In the first two months of this year, Thai exports were expected to inch up 0.2 per cent year on year.

“If the Thai exports must achieve 5 per cent growth this year, exports must average US$22.8 billion per month for the remaining nine months of this year. If the growth target is 3 per cent, monthly Thai exports must be $22 billion. TNSC expects exports in March to shrink 4-5 per cent, which could lead to first-quarter contraction of 1 per cent or flat growth,” Ghanyapad said.

She said the growth figure of 8 per cent targeted by the Commerce Ministry was not possible while it would be difficult to reach the TNSC’s 5 per cent growth target.

Exports in February rose 5.9 per cent year on year to US$21.55 billion, while imports decreased 10 per cent to $17.52 billion, which generated a trade surplus of $4.03 billion in the month.

Excluding exported weapons, Thai exports in the month contracted 4.9 per cent, led by a 9 per cent shrinkage in agricultural products shipments.

TNSC has also urged speeding up of the process of government formation after the election and the need for an economic stimulus to attract foreign investment, as well continuing the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Policy, the country’s infrastructure investments and free trade agreements, she said.

She said that the election campaign promise to raise the minimum daily wage to Bt400 was too-high and could reduce Thailand’s international trade competitiveness.

TNSC secretary-general Chaichan Charoensuk said that given the export contraction in the first two months, March’s exports are forecast to shrink 4-5 per cent likely due to unfavourable markets for rice, rubber, tapioca products, processed, canned, frozen seafoods excluding shrimp, and processed and frozen shrimp. Shipments of electronics products, which have contracted, are also expected to rise weakly.

KResearch’s Nattaporn added that Thailand also will be challenged by the global economic slowdown which will, in turn, affect its exports. The new government has to expedite the implementation of economic stimulus policies under the fiscal year 2019 budget, including the passing of the fiscal 2020 budget bill. If the new government can be formed by June 2019 and the economic stimulus can be implemented as expected, household consumption will be boosted by 0.2-0.4 per cent of GDP, and the outlook for the Thai economy in the second half of this year will be brighter than in the first half.

The new economic growth projection reflects an expected slowdown in Thai exports resulting from the economic downturn in Thailand’s key trade partners despite better-than-expected improvements seen in the US-China trade dispute. KResearch has also cut its export growth projection for 2019 to 3.2 per cent from 4.5 per cent, and its 2019 import growth forecast to 4.3 per cent from 5.3 per cent.

Nattaporn expects the policy rate to be kept at 1.75 per cent throughout the year. High liquidity in local commercial banks and the banks’ approach to gradually approve loans currently should not intensify the competition in the commercial banks’ interest rates.

As for the movement of the baht, KResearch has forecast that the baht would weaken and move within the range of Bt31.20-Bt32.50 per dollar. Factors deserving close attention are domestic issues, especially, political and economic situations.

Manoon Siriwan, an energy expert, forecast that the global price of oil will be over US$500 per tonne in the second quarter .

The Energy Fund Administration Institute (EFAI), under the Energy Ministry, stated that the net value of the Oil Fund currently stands at Bt32.143 billion. The oil account value amounts to Bt38.273 billion while the LPG account is at a deficit of Bt61.3 billion.

Manoon said LPG demand will continue to increase in the second quarter due to hotter weather as reflected in the rising global oil prices.

However, he said oil price will not increase significantly from the current level. In March, global oil price stood at $500 per tonne.

Hence, the government will need to utilise the Oil Fund to fill the gap between LPG household price and the global price, he said.

The government currently has a policy to fix the price of LPG at Bt363 per 15 kilogrammes. Since March 15, the government has invested Bt6 billion in support of the policy.

He said stores which do not use e-payment methods may be subjected to investigations.

The e-payment law requires financial institutions to submit the financial details of their customers to the Revenue Department. The law applies to customers with more than 3000 transactions each per year with a total value of Bt2 million or more.

The new requirememt has caused concerns among store managers with many cancelling the e-payment method at their premses .

Veerathai said that e-payments is a more convenient and safer method of transaction.

Despite e-payment stores’ worries of being investigated, it is the stores that do not use e-payments that will be subjected to investigation, given e-paymentis obviously the better method, he said.

However, when looking at Thailand’s current educational standing, it is obvious there is enormous room for improvement.

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Thailand is one of the least successful countries in terms of education. The country, based on the 2015 Programme for International Student Development (PISA), was ranked 54th out of 70 countries, compared to Vietnam’s eighth, despite Bt480 billion being spent on education as of 2019.

Furthermore, students in Thailand are yet to achieve a passable level of understanding in basic subjects and science. Thailand’s percentage of students performing below level 2 (the second-lowest level, with fifth being the best for proficiency in certain subjects) in science was 47 per cent with the other countries’ average being 21.

An apparent pointer to its lack of success is the existence of tutorial schools, a Bt8-billion industry in Thailand. According to a survey in 2015 by the Office of the Education Council, spending by parents on children at the lower secondary level could be as high as Bt18,200 on mathematics tutorials, or a total of around Bt37,400, which contradicts the government’s claims of free support at the lower secondary level. Besides extra tutorial sessions, the more well-off students can also access a wider range of extracurricular activities to build and broaden their experiences as well as their resum้. These unfair advantages for students who can afford them could lead to them have more success academically as revealed by the United Nations’ World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE). The UN report found that Thai students categorised as from families from the lowest socio-economic status performed two times worse academically in upper secondary than students from among the “richest”.

Logically speaking, income and education levels are inter-related. Those with lower income cannot receive good education and end up having a bad career; and a bad career means they cannot escape poverty.

As shown by WIDE, serious disparities may not reveal themselves as a result of economic status until primary education. However, as the level of education gets higher, the disparity becomes wider. Only 8 per cent of youths from low-income families go for higher education while 48 per cent of the richest families do. Mostly, higher education leads to higher future earnings. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) survey, a person with an upper-secondary level of education earns on average Bt12,010 per month while a person with a bachelor’s degree earns on average Bt23,035 per month.

Even though it is difficult to pinpoint the reasons for such inequality – whether it is the lack of wealth or the lack of education – it is inevitable that a failing education system will worsen income disparity.

Altering the education system seems like a plausible answer to address the cycle. However, based on the history of PISA results, after revolutionising the education system in 2003 the students’ results are almost on a downward trajectory. This could be caused by “too many” changes that were made in the Thai education system. With too many adjustments, students and their parents simply cannot keep up.

So what changes are needed in the school system? Let’s look at countries that are educationally successful: South Korea, for example, is 100 per cent literate. However, the country’s education system is too demanding. It puts huge pressure on students to work hard and perform. At the other end of the spectrum is Finland, also one of the most successful countries in education, which provides a mixture of academic studies and extracurricular activities. Both ends stay at the top rank of the PISA tests regardless of their education styles. So, which one is the most suitable for Thai students is still debatable.

No matter what style we choose, it is undeniable that our current academic evaluation is still based on the ability to answer through memorisation while systematic problem-solving, analytical skills and creative thinking are not given as much importance. Emphasis should be placed on “how the knowledge is taught” rather than “what is taught”. Instead of just saying that there are many theories to explain the origin of Thai people and list them out, ask the students to research them and say which theory they believe in and why. It is not the technology that education 4.0 needs, but the creators and users.

Views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of TMB Bank or its executives. Biz Insight is co-authored by ARCHANYA ROJVATUNYU and DUANGRAT PRAJAKSILPTHAI. They can be reached at tmbanalytics@tmbbank.com

In an interview with The Nation, Gu cited China as an example where EV sales have already topped 1 million units due to the Chinese government’s adoption of a car ownership policy that favours EVs.

Free ownership licences have been granted to those who want to buy electric vehicles so the country’s EV adoption has accelerated over the past several years.

China is currently the world’s largest automotive market with annual sales of over 22 million units.

According to Gu, appropriate market mechanisms are also needed to ensure that the EV demand growth is sustainable in order to deliver a better quality of life for city residents currently affected by air pollution resulting from combustion-engine vehicles.

For Thailand, he suggested that the government start with the introduction of electric buses that can go for 200-300 kilometres after one charge. In addition, electric motorbikes should be widely adopted as in China and Vietnam to help reduce air pollution.

In a bid to promote the concept of e-mobility, ABB has been a key sponsor of the Formula E or E-Prix, with the latest two races held in Hong Kong and another in the Chinese city of Sanya last month.

Formula E races are seen as a powerful platform to communicate with global audiences to boost public awareness for smart transport as part of the ABB vision for smart cities.

However, Gu said the advent of e-mobility in the form of various electric vehicles will also lead to global energy structural changes.

Gu said e-mobility is more efficient and friendly to the environment when compared to vehicles using fossil energy, especially in mega-cities around the world where the quality of life will be improved due to adoption of EVs in place of combustion-engine vehicles.

EVs are now capable of achieving a 300km drive after one charge while ABB’s technology can now charge a battery pack for a 200km drive within eight minutes.

Power utilities in Thailand and other countries will also have to upgrade their infrastructure to cope with the new demand/supply patterns with more renewable energies added to the current energy mix.

e-mobility

Meanwhile, Claudio Facchin, ABB’s president of power grids, said e-mobility will likely account for 10-15 per cent of the world’s total electricity consumption in the next 1-2 decades.

This will pose new challenges on power grids or the supply side of electricity.

According to Facchin, ABB has been transitioning to the business of industrial digitalisation, robotics, automation, smart cities, and a new energy structure with more renewables such as solar and wind energies.

However, these renewable energies are intermittent, making it necessary to manage the supply side with storage facilities to achieve energy stability.

By 2030, renewable energies are forecast to account for as much as 85 per cent of the new capacity installed, up from 50 per cent in 2015.

He said storage batteries are required to handle intermittent renewable energies along with the adoption of micro-grids for interconnection of the national grid.

In addition, digitalisation of energy management has advanced with more sensors and data analytic tools adopted to increase efficiency as well as to improve infrastructure maintenance.

According to Facchin, the e-mobility progress depends on the cost of the battery, which has been declining due to greater global demand as the cost of EVs is projected to be on par with combustion-engine vehicles around 2023.

For e-buses, he said, big cities should consider adopting an urban transportation system with overhead charging equipment while buses stop at every bus station.

Regarding the “Industry 4.0” initiative, he said the firm has launched the ABB Ability platform for cloud-based edge and other computing facilities to support digital transformation of various industries.

In Thailand, food and beverage, automotive parts and other sectors have turned to automation and digitalisation to lower cost, while boosting efficiency with the use of data analytics.