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BANGKOK: Thailand’s economy expanded at its fastest quarterly pace in four years in the first quarter boosted by recovering exports, but monetary policy will likely remain loose to cushion still-subdued investment activity.

The government raised its export outlook for 2017, suggesting the recovery was gaining traction, but South-East Asia’s second-largest economy faces rising global trade protectionism and capital outflow risks as the US Federal Reserve prepares to hike rates again this year.

Gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in the first quarter from the fourth, aided also by household holding and tourism, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said on Monday.

The pace was slightly faster than the 1.2% forecast in a Reuters poll and the 0.5% growth in the previous quarter, which was revised up from 0.4%.

From a year earlier, growth was 3.3%, also slightly better than a median forecast of 3.2%, and the 3.0% in the final quarter of last year.

“We expect growth to pick up a little further in the coming quarters, helped by robust external demand, supportive fiscal and monetary policies, and the current state of relative political calm,” Krystal Tan of Capital Economics wrote.

The planning agency narrowed its 2017 economic growth forecast to 3.3%-3.8% from 3.0%-4.0% projected earlier. It raised its export growth outlook to 3.6% from 2.9%. Exports, worth about two-thirds of the economy, are recovering after years of decline.

“Growth in exports was more a result of price effects than volume effects, supported by higher commodity prices,” said Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research at Kasikornbank.

Thailand’s economic growth has lagged other regional peers since 2014, when the army seized power to end months of street protests. The junta has ramped up spending and investment in a bid to lift domestic activity. But large infrastructure projects have been slow getting off the ground.

Exports in the first quarter jumped 6.6% from a year earlier and household spending increased 3.2% while overall public and private investment rose 1.7%, NESDB data showed.

NESDB chief Porametee Vimolsiri, also a rate-setting committee member, said private investment should recover in the second half of the year and that monetary policy should continue to be accommodative.

The central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.50% since April 2015. It next reviews policy on May 24, when most economists expect no change.

Economist Barnabas Gan of OCBC Bank in Singapore, however, said the strong growth data and potentially higher US rates later this year may serve as an impetus for the Thai central bank to raise rates by 25 basis points later this year. – Reuters

Source: THE STAR

Golden Emperor proudly announced the succeed event on Hanoi property seminar. The infrastructure developments such as the Metro (MRT) system, the new CBD which is poised to be the “West Kowloon” of Hanoi, and the new housing law for foreigners are the main reasons that contribute to upside in Hanoi’s property market. Golden Emperors in partnership with CapitaLand for launching a property seminar with professional guidance and information about investing in Vietnam and the outstanding development, Seasons Avenue. Sonata Premier Tower is the exclusive tower among four of them which presents all premier units that are accompanied by a stunning view of Trung Van Lake and the magnificent skyline of the new CBD Nam Từ Liêm.

Above: Many investors attended the weekend seminar.

Above: Terence Chan, Director of Golden Emperor, provided a presentation on the Hanoi property market.

Above: Our clients in Hong Kong had special offer during this event.

Thailand ranked sixth among the world’s nine “best up-and-coming economies” in a survey conducted by US New & World Report, a publication known for its annual rating of US universities.

The China Daily reported on Wednesday that the US media organisation surveyed more than 21,000 people about how they viewed 80 countries in terms of criteria including economic influence, citizenship and quality of life.To determine which countries were improving most quickly, the surveyors used a computer model to predict their future growth in gross domestic product and purchasing-power parity per capita.

The resulting upper ranks were dominated by Asian and Middle Eastern nations.The top nine, in descending order, are the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, India, China, Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Egypt.

Source:The Nation

China and Vietnam should handle maritime disagreements through dialogues, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday as he calls for efforts to push bilateral relations to a new level.

In a meeting with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, who is making a five-day state visit to China, Xi said the two countries should push forward maritime cooperation, accumulate consensus gradually and broaden their common interests.

Quang will attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Sunday and Monday.

Witnessed by the two presidents, China and Vietnam signed cooperative documents in areas like diplomacy, technology, e-commerce, infrastructure and education.

Xi said China and Vietnam should take advantage of the Belt and Road Forum to connect their development strategies.

Noting it is Quang’s first visit to China since becoming Vietnamese president, Xi said the visit could energize China-Vietnam relations.

Xi called on the two nations to strengthen coordination to push forward cooperation in all areas and bring practical benefits for the people of both countries.

Quang said the two countries should handle disagreements properly and continue to push forward with maritime cooperation.

Vietnam is willing to expand cooperation with China through people-to-people exchanges and in areas like economy and trade, agriculture, environment, infrastructure, tourism and security, he said.

Liu Zhenmin, vice-foreign minister, said that during their talks, the two presidents discussed the South China Sea “in a positive atmosphere”.

According to Liu, the two sides agreed to implement the consensus reached by the high-level leaders of the two countries, make continuous efforts to stabilize the South China Sea situation, and push forward negotiation.

“The talks over the South China Sea issue are completely positive, without any discord,” he told reporters.

The two countries will enhance maritime cooperation in “less sensitive areas”, such as joint scientific research and exploitation of the Beibu Gulf, he added.

While China remains the largest trading partner of Vietnam, Vietnam surpassed Malaysia last year to become the largest trading partner of China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, two-way trade between China and Vietnam reached $87.8 billion in the first 11 months of 2016, up by 1.6 percent year-on-year.

In the same period, Vietnam’s export to China amounted to $32.96 billion, up by 20.8 percent year-on-year, and its trade deficit with China fell by 31 percent.

Source: anhuinews

China (Fujian) – Vietnam Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum ‘was held in Fuzhou on June 13th. The forum was held by China and Vietnam (‘ China ‘), which was jointly organized by the Fujian Provincial People’s Government and the Ministry of Planning and Investment of the People’s Republic of China. Signed four economic and trade cooperation agreement, which involves the investment of more than 600 million US dollars, the export of 35 million US dollars.

Vietnamese President Chen Dagang delivered a speech at the forum to welcome Fujian enterprises to Vietnam to carry out effective investment and cooperation, Vietnam will create a favorable environment for it.

Chen said that China is one of the top ten investment sources in Vietnam, and a large number of Chinese enterprises have invested in Vietnam and invested a total of US $ 11.2 billion in Vietnam, saying that Vietnam encourages Chinese enterprises, including Fujian, to invest in Vietnam’s high technological content Of the project, especially in the infrastructure, logistics, electronics, environmental protection and other fields.

China is the largest trading partner of Vietnam, and Chen Daguhao expects the bilateral trade volume to reach $ 100 billion as soon as possible.He hoped that Vietnam’s agricultural products, seafood, electronic products and consumer goods would better enter the market in Fujian, and he said that China, especially Fujian’s high-tech, production materials, agricultural products into the growing purchasing power of the Vietnamese market.

‘Vietnam has always attached great importance to China and the development of friendly and cooperative relations with China.’ Chen Daguang said that the two sides hope to long-term development strategy to determine the cooperation plan, to play their respective advantages, and further expand economic and trade, Agriculture, environment, infrastructure, tourism, humanities and other areas and ‘one way all the way’ in the construction of exchanges and cooperation, deepening economic and trade cooperation into a new impetus.

Fujian Province, Yu Weiguo said that Fujian and Vietnam, deep historical origins, personnel and economic and trade exchanges are close, Fujian will promote cooperation with Vietnam to a new level.We hope the two sides to ‘take all the way’ as an opportunity to strengthen the ‘two corridors ‘Strategic docking, in infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, energy and education, health care, tourism, culture and other fields to deepen pragmatic cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win situation.

More than 120 delegates from Vietnamese government and enterprises attended more than 200 representatives from relevant departments and enterprises in Fujian Province, and exchanged views on issues of common concern.

It is reported that in 2016 Fujian’s import and export of Vietnam exceeded US $ 3.4 billion, up 13.8%, of which exports to Vietnam totaled US $ 2.52 billion, up 15%.

Source：Topnews