March 23, 2021 Thai Enquirer Summary Economic News The cabinet is scheduled to consider aid measures for small and medium-sized enterprises hit by the Covid-19 outbreak (SMEs) at today’s meeting. The cabinet is set to decide on measures to rehabilitate the ailing SMEs, especially the remaining 350 billion baht in soft loans aimed at helping smaller firms cope with the liquidity crunch, the implementation of an asset warehousing concept. As for the leftover 250 billion baht, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has proposed to offer it in the form of low-interest loans to pass on to SMEs at 2 per cent interest. Other stimulus measures to spur domestic spending such as the proposed extension of the “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” (We Travel Together) tourism promotion campaign and the half-half co-payment scheme in the 3rd phase will not be forwarded to the cabinet meeting for consideration today. Central Bank Governor Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput said he would update the progress of aid measures for SMEs today at 15.00 hrs on the BoT Facebook Live. Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday called a meeting of his economic ministers to discuss ideas on more economic measures to stimulate domestic spending and tourism in the latter half of the year. Gen Prayut met with Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith and Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput to brainstorm ideas on a number of issues including: 1) Measures to maintain and increase liquidity among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a soft loan and asset warehousing programmes. 2) Following up on the results of the Rao Chana (We Win) and half-half co- payment schemes and the possibility of an extension for both schemes as well as measures to deal with fraud related to the schemes. Supattanapong said he had asked the Finance Minister to come up with more ideas on economic stimulus measures similar to the “shop dee mee khuen” project but possibly without time constraints. The Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister signalled that the government will likely push ahead with the “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” (We Travel Together) tourism promotion campaign and the half-half co-payment scheme after they started to expire on May 31, 2021, both in the 3rd phase, in the latter half of this year to stimulate the domestic economy. Household debts in Thailand will likely rise as Thais generally start their savings plans too late, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said on Monday. Jinanggoon Rojananan, NESDC’s deputy secretary-general, said a Stock Exchange of Thailand study shows that Thais usually invest in savings schemes when they are 42 years old, compared to Americans, who start saving from the age of 30. “Meanwhile, only 2.2 per cent of Thai households start investing, while most Thais have a high level of debt,” she pointed out. Household debt in the third quarter of 2020 stood at 13.77 trillion baht, accounting for 86.6 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Many households cannot save because they have to repay debts, especially the Generation Y, which spends 69 per cent of its earnings on luxury goods. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged at its meeting tomorrow. Roong Sanguanruang, head of the global market research and analysis section at Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), urged investors to keep a close watch on export figures and the MPC’s meeting tomorrow. She expects the MPC to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 per cent for a 7th straight meeting. She also expects the rate setters to adopt tools to tackle the liquidity problems to be in line with an economic recovery. Nok Air looks set to resume international flights in the 3rd quarter of this year. Nok Air CEO Wutthiphum Jurangkool said the airline should resume international flights on 5 pilot destinations including China, Japan, India, Myanmar and Vietnam in the 3rd quarter, followed by 2 additional destinations which are the Philippines and Malaysia in the 4th quarter. The airline expects its average cabin factor for domestic flights to return to 80 per cent, especially Chiang Mai and Krabi routes given the progress of Thailand’s inoculation program. As for the airline’s load factor for international flights, Wutthiphum said the airline will have to wait for government policies on the reopening plan and each country’s travel restrictions. Nok Air’s passenger volume has returned to 7,000 per day, still less than the average rate of 37,000 per day pre-pandemic. More than 13,000 employees have applied to continue working with Thai Airways (THAI) with 2,800 others calling it quits. Chansin Treenuchagron, the airline's acting president, said those who expressed their intention to stay on would work under a restructured organisation which will take effect on May 1. In its latest update, 13,500 employees applied to carry on working while 2,800 others decided to join early retirement programme and a further 800 employees were undecided. THAI's debt rehabilitation plan has been accepted by the Central Bankruptcy Court and will be put to the creditors who will decide its fate next month. SET-listed Jay Mart Plc (JMART) is confident that its 2021 net profit will continue to hit an all-time high or a growth of 50 per cent, driven by strong economic performances of its local and overseas business allies. Chief executive Adisak Sukhumvitaya said the company adopted an aggressive strategy to tap into 2 new business segments, namely the logistics and centralized insurance and finance broker. The company expects this prospect to become clearer in the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year. It has set aside an investment budget of 15 billion baht to tap into these new businesses. JMART’s market cap on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index is now standing at 102 billion baht. Adisak expects the company’s market cap to grow to 130 billion at year-end and 250 billion baht in 2023. The picture of a huge crowd waiting to apply for jobs at a factory in Samut Prakan province was shared online. It is said that the large crowd of people arrived in front of the factory since midnight last night after a large number of people lost their jobs as a result of the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Phuket will submit its reopening plan to the Centre for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) for approval this Friday in a bid to let inoculated tourists visit without quarantine in July, while Samui also hastened the reopening process with a sealed model. Yuthasak Supasorn, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, said the reopening plan, known as the Phuket Tourism Sandbox, will depend largely on vaccine allocation to the Andaman island as it must achieve herd immunity by inoculating 70% of the population before letting foreign visitors in by that date. The plan, to be submitted to CESA on March 26, will include a vaccination proposal, indicating the number of doses needed and the timeline of inoculation that will be suitable for a safe reopening. He said public communities tend to consent to this plan more than last year's Phuket model as it is equipped with a more elaborate plan that can convince them with health safety measures. Political News 2014 coup leader and incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha came out to say that the authorities did what was best for the ‘security’ of the area on Saturday’s protest and that journalists who were caught in the line of fire needed to Be not just on the side of the protestors Have protective gear all the time and be ready for such possibilities That he was ‘saddened’ to see reporters being hurt. That journalists should not just cover the ‘protest’ side because ‘it does not help the country’s image’. The incident has prompted nearly all media bodies be it the Thailand Journalist Association (TJA), the Economic Reports Association of Thailand and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), to come out unanimously criticize the heavy- handed approach undertaken by the authorities in cracking down the protestors. Meanwhile HM the King has come out to put all those who have been injured in Saturday’s protest to be patients under medical care of HM the King. On the political front, the much awaited Cabinet reshuffle is still in the making and that Gen. Prayut said his new cabinet line-up will be revealed soon. He said he is in the process of submitting a list of new cabinet members for royal endorsement. He told the media that changes can be made anytime to his new line-up if nothing good has come out of it because no one knows what will happen in the future. Gen Prayut said he is more worried about peace and order in the country. When asked if changes have been made to the vacant posts or the entire cabinet, he said, “only the vacant seats. Better not complicate things”. On the issue of the amendment of the constitution, Gen. Prayut came out to say that it was something that was discussed in the past and that it will depend upon the people and that “go amend it and if you can do it do it”. When asked about the idea of charter amendments section-by-section as pushed by some coalition parties, Gen Prayut said he had no problem with that and said the government already proposed ideas on charter amendments.