Thailand Q3 GDP grows 4.3% y-o-y, best since 2013
Thailand’s economy expanded by the most in 4.5 years in July-September on an annual basis, though the quarterly pace slowed, indicating monetary policy will likely remain loose to support still-sluggish domestic demand.
Exports and tourism have lifted growth for Southeast Asia’s second largest economy this year, though it still lags that of peers. The Thai rate has reflected soft domestic demand and delays in the start of big infrastructure projects.
On an annual basis, the economy expanded 4.3% in the third quarter, the best pace for any period since the first quarter of 2013. That number beat the Reuters poll median of 3.8% and was also above its highest forecast. In April-June, annual growth was a revised 3.8%.
On a quarterly basis, Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew a seasonally adjusted 1.0% in the July-September quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said on Monday.
That was faster than the 0.75% forecast in the Reuters poll. Growth for April-June was revised up to 1.4% from 1.3%.
Capital Economics said it expects the Thai economy “to remain in good health” and exports “should continue to do well”.
The planning agency revised its 2017 economic growth forecast to 3.9% from 3.5-4.0% projected earlier, with exports up 8.6%. It predicts 2018 economic growth at 3.6-4.6%, with exports rising 5.0%.
Despite the baht being at its strongest in more than two years, Thailand’s exports have recovered in 2017, benefiting from a strong tech cycle. Exports in the third quarter jumped 12.5% from a year earlier.
Shipments rose just 0.5% in 2016 after three years of contraction
The central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.50% since April 2015. It next reviews policy on Dec. 20, at the year’s final meeting.
Most economists expect no policy change well into 2018, as inflation is benign.
source: Bangkok Post
Charity Movie Night by Golden Emperor
Golden Emperor collaborated with National Arts and held the Charity Movie Night yesterday. Through enjoying “Our Days in 6E,” nominated for two awards at the Profima International Film Fest & Awards, we would like to raise public awareness of ethnic minorities and social integration in Hong Kong. We were honored to have casting members Ms. Lemon Yip and Mr. Brian Yuen joined us to extend our gratitude to everyone’s generous participation.
Proceeds from the Charity Movie Night, after cost deduction, will be donated by National Arts to charities targeting social harmony. The event was very well received with tremendous support and we wholeheartedly thank for every participant’s selfless benevolence.
Above: Charity Movie Night held by Golden Emperor was well supported by generous participants.
Above: Casting members from the movie, Ms. Lemon Yip and Mr. Brian Yuen, extend their gratitude to everyone’s selfless participation.
Above: Everyone has a wonderful and philanthropic evening.
Taxi OK: Thai government to launch its own taxi app next month
The Land Transport Department will launch a smartphone app in the middle of next month to make it more convenient for passengers to call taxis, a spokeswoman for the National Council for Peace and Order said on Monday.
Colonel Sirichan Ngathong, deputy spokeswoman of the NCPO, said the launch of the Taxi OK app is part of the reform of public transportation administration under the fifth national administration reform steering committee.
Sirichan was speaking to reporters after the panel, which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, held its meeting at Government House on Monday morning.
Sirichan said about 10,000 taxis would join the Taxi OK programme and passengers would be able to call them conveniently with the app. Bangkok taxis have been notorious for rejecting passengers, allowing taxi-hailing apps such as Grab and Uber to become popular.
Under the “Taxi Ok-Taxi VIP” project, Thailand is scrambling to raise the standard and credibility of its taxi drivers, who are known for endless misbehavior from rejecting and overcharging passengers to threatening and sexually assaulting them.
Drivers who want to participate in the “Taxi Ok” project must not have criminal records, and their taxis must not be older than two years and be registered as public transportation. Once accepted, they must install a GPS tracking device in their car, CCTV camera, and an emergency button that will send a signal from the passenger to the app center.
For “Taxi VIP,” riders are promised more premium service than normal taxis, but it is unclear exactly what the services are aside from the safety measures above.
Ekkachai Sumalee, director of the school’s Smart Cities Research Centre within the Engineering
Faculty, said the app was a joint project with Burapha University’s Faculty of Logistics.
He said Taxi OK could be used along with other devices installed in cabs to increase both driver and passenger safety.
There are seven components in the proposed system, he said, involving the taking of photos, identifying locations, summoning the taxi, monitoring driver behaviour, lodging complaints, an emergency alert button, and assessing both the driver and privately run taxi-information centres.
Users would be able to summon a taxi from any affiliated service and lodge complaints with authorities, Ekkachai said.
Once a cab is in use, its movements and other information would be automatically shared with a supervising information centre run by the private sector and the Land Transport Department’s own taxi centre. Location, speed, engine performance, driver identification, meter fare and booking information would all be recorded.
Source: The Nation, thaitech
Hong Kong to open trade office in Thailand
The government of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will set up an economic and trade office in Thailand to promote ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday.
Lam announced the plan to media before attending the Executive Council meeting in the morning.
The new trade office, which will probablly be located in Bangkok, will be Hong Kong’s third trade office in Asean member states, she said.
Lam said she met Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting of 2017 in Vietnam last week, and discussed setting up the new trade office in Thailand.
Both sides wanted to have the office set up as soon as possible, she added.
Noting that Asean is Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner in merchandise trade and fourth largest in services trade, she welcomed the signing of a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and Asean on November 12 and vowed to further promote ties between the two sides.
source: THE NATION
Banks get green light for QR code payment service
BANK OF THAILAND (BOT) yesterday permitted five financial institutions to exit from the regulatory “sandbox” and to be able to offer QR code payment services to the general public.
The five institutions – Kasikorn Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krungthai Bank, Bangkok Bank and Government Saving Bank – have met all regulatory criteria for providing QR-code payment services through the PromptPay system.
Those key criteria cover the readiness and robustness of their IT system, risk management, consumer protection, and security. In addition, they include standards for serving consumers continuously and efficiently through the operations of their branches and call centres, said Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya, BOT’s assistant governor for payment systems policy and financial technology group.
While only five banks have attained approval so far, other banks that are testing their QR code payment projects are also making good progress and BOT expects to see them similarly progress.
The BOT, financial institutions, non-bank payment service providers, and international card schemes have jointly developed the Thai QR code standard for e-payment, which complies with the international standard. The BOT has allowed eight financial institutions to test their payment projects using the QR code standard through their mobile applications in the BOT’s regulatory sandbox.
The QR code payment services of the five banks have been developed on the PromptPay system. Customers could use the mobile applications from those banks to scan the merchant’s standard QR code to make their payments promptly.
In a related matter, yesterday Krungthai Card announced that KTC is Thailand’s first credit card company to accept QR code payments via credit cards. It said it would offer a world-class credit card network, which supports a two-way payment system between the issuer and the acquirer.
KTC executive vice president for IT, Woottichai Jarernpolecutive, said that this year KTC made an array of technological advancements, both behind the scenes as well as in the spotlight. They range from the relocation and adjustment of the data centre, to the revamping and addition of new features in the “TapKTC” mobile application, including biometric verification to identify the user as well as an e-coupon feature.
Recently KTC developed the system to support an additional form of credit card payment for goods and services through the QR code payment in the “TapKTC” mobile application, the bank announced. The app has been approved through the BOT regulatory sandbox and will be released to the public from November 16 onwards.
The “QR code payment” which KTC is endorsing makes use of standardised QR Code for payments from both the issuer and the acquirer, the bank announced.
“This form of payment will support the two world-class credit card networks, Visa and Mastercard, and will additionally cover other payment networks in the near future,” the bank said. “Credit card holders will be able to purchase goods and services using the QR Code and have the power to control their payments (push payments), which is different from the traditional card purchase transaction where the transactions are initiated by the acquirers (pull payments).”
The QR Code Payment system is more convenient and reduces the payment processes by simply scanning the merchant’s QR Code and then follows only few payment steps through the TapKTC mobile application. The application will process the payment to the Card’s issuer and the acquirer for an approval. There will also be push notifications, which will be displayed in the application as well as sent to the user’s email after the payment for goods and services are successfully processed. Simultaneously, the acquirer will also receive a notification of the successful payment through the TapKTC Merchant application.
While the application is in its trial period under the regulatory sandbox, customers can make payments for goods and services through the KTC QR Code Payment in four main areas, including Or Tor Kor Market (the Marketing Organisation for Farmers), Lung Perm Market (Thai Airways Market), Huamum Market Kaset-Navamin and at stores in the areas of Sukhumvit 31 and 33 roads.
KTC received approval for a full scale KTC QR Code Payment test run. Since September 25, the bank has been doing an internal soft launch with focus groups comprising KTC employees. The test run covered three stores to control the service for both the issuer and acquirer.
Source: The Nation
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