May 10, 2021 Thai Enquirer Summary Covid-19 News The situation in Bangkok still remains at worrying levels although the total number of cases that were announced this morning saw a slight drop. Total number of new infection - 1,630 Total number of new death - 22 Total number of infections in the country - 56,142 Total number of people recovered - 27,782 Total number of people recovered today - 1,603 Sunday saw 2,021 new cases and 17 deaths Saturday saw 2,419 new cases and 19 deaths To make matters worse, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has come out to admit at the meeting that the number of people being infected is ‘way beyond their ability to manage’. The meeting held yesterday saw that BMA coming out to accept that the situation was out of control. This prompted Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to set up a new Covid-19 management committee only for Bangkok. If you thought that things were bad, a member of parliament of Phalang Pracharat party that is the party in power, came out to announce on her social media page that despite all the outbreak there were still some illegal gambling dens operating in Bangkok. She pointed out to a illegal gambling den in Phayathai area where the owner reportedly has been diagnosed with Covid-19 virus. She said that as many as 50 per cent of the more than 20+ people who have been identified as being people who had visited the illegal gambling den have been identified to be infected with the virus. The masses who are commuting using public transport are starting to see a rising risk as many of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) employees are starting to test positive for the virus. BMTA announced that more infection with conductor and bus drivers have been detected and that includes on bus numbers 62, 12, 47 and 510. As part of the move BMTA has said that it will reduce the number of passengers in the buses to 70 per cent of their capacity. There was good news from AstraZeneca yesterday after news leaked out on late Friday night that the 1st batch of vaccine produced by Siam BioScience had passed the quality control testing. Although the press release was to be released today (Monday), the leak prompted AstraZeneca to push the announcement to Sunday May 9th. The statement said that Siam BioScience had passed quality testing at AstraZeneca’s designated laboratories in Europe and in the U.S. It said that Siam BioScience passed the full tests and standard at AstraZeneca’s global laboratories in Europe and the US and set by the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS). The government of Prayut has been pushing for people to get vaccinated but there is a growing reluctance to taking the Chinese made SinoVac that has been imported by the Ministry of Public Health into Thailand. The country has so far seen inoculation of 1.74 million doses Talking about vaccines, well the number of people who have registered for the vaccines for June 2021 onwards that the government has asked stands at just 1.56 million o The govt. has launched ‘Moo Prom’ to register people for the vaccine but the reception remains subdued. More than 100 gemstone traders from Africa have come down with Covid-19 over four days in Chanthaburi, although none carried the African or Indian variants of the virus. The provincial public office said the 109 traders tested positive May 6-9. They are from Guinea, Mali, Cote D'Ivoire and Gambia. Chanthaburi has attracted many traders of precious stones from Africa. Medical workers from hospitals and the provincial health office also set up a testing site at a Buddhist centre targeting 250 residents who came into contact with the African traders. Economic News The Ministry of Finance has come out to defend criticism of why it does not provide a pandemic cash relief fund for restaurant operators amid calls for help from the government in the wake of the 3rd wave of the outbreak. Kulaya Tantitemit, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), in her capacity as spokeswoman for the Finance Ministry, said this is because the ministry has launched a series of relief measures such as extensions of the Rao Chana scheme and Mor 33 Rao Rak Kan pay out campaign, with an additional 1,000 baht will be given to 32.9 million eligible people each week for two weeks. In addition, Kulaya cited 1 other relief measures approved by the cabinet on May 5 which are: The loans, totalling 20 billion baht, will be given through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Government Savings Bank. The extension of debt moratorium by specialised financial institutions (SFIs) a December 31 this year. Kulaya’s explanation is a response to restaurant operators’ call for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to ease Covid-19 restrictions, including lifting the ban on dine-in services. Pasinee Pitaknilpradap, president of the Restaurant and Goods Product Association (RGPA), said food and beverage operators have been suffering because of the restrictions imposed by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that it has sufficient fund to combat the new wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. It has no plans to seek additional loans despite criticism from several groups and individuals that its new round of economic stimulus packages is not sufficient. The Finance Ministry said the ministry has sufficient funding to cover extensions of Rao Chana (We Win) financial relief scheme and the Section 33 “We Love Each Other” programme with a budget of more than 240 billion baht. The Ministry has plans to inject an additional 855 billion baht to fund the schemes along with other suitable economic stimulus measures to alleviate the impact of the outbreak, according to a source with the ministry. If an additional budget is required, the government still the central budget for the 2021 fiscal year earmarked at 99 billion baht in which merely 500 million baht or 5 per cent has been disbursed. Moreover, the government has set aside 40 billion baht to fund several Covid-19 relief project. Of this budget, merely 8 per cent or 3.2 billion has been used, the same source said, adding that there is still sufficient budget for future use to combat the outbreak. Today is the 1st day trade of Ngern Tid Lor Co (TIDLOR), a microcredit provider under Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index under TIDLOR today. The 907 million shares sold at 36.50 baht or 26.5x price-earnings-ration (PER) which is higher than the current trading value of its peers that are already listed on the SET. Investors have been warned that although the IPO may see the price of the shares rise on its debut, their plans to hold on to the shares in the long-term should be something that they should rethink as the valuation of 36.50 already prices in more than 30 per cent expected growth in 2021. Read details of this in-depth writing in https://www.thaienquirer.com/27278/investors-should-remain-cautious-as- tidlors-valuation-looks-stretched-compared-to-peers/ The management of Union Mall has put up an announcement of temporary closure of Union Mall from May 13-27 or until further notice to allow operators to take a break amid the surge of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the Mall will continue to offer take orders for ready-made meals and home deliveries in a bid to help retail operators to “save” them from concerns over operating expenses, fears of infections and risks of spreading the Covid-19 infections to others in society. Thai Airways International Plc (THAI)’s creditors want the state enterprise status of Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) to be returned to the airline. The resolution was reached during a meeting between THAI and financial institutions, savings cooperatives of state-owned enterprises and those of various universities in which THAI owed around 170 billion baht. These creditors asked the government to push the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies to reacquire the ministry’s major stake in THAI to facilitate the state enterprise state of THAI to be reinstated under the Category 3 without a labour union. By doing so, these major creditors signalled their approval for THAI’s business rehab plan to go ahead and the possibility for THAI to return as the flag carrier. Meanwhile, the Legal Execution Department announced decision to change the creditors’ meeting platform scheduled for May 12 to an electronic creditors’ meeting on the same day. A source with the Finance Ministry reported that Krungthai Bank (KTB) and other financial institutions have agreed on plans to give out loans to THAI amounting to 25 billion baht under condition that the Finance Ministry must act as loan guarantor for THAI and the airline’s state enterprise status must be reinstated. It is said that the ministry has agreed with this plan and will forward it to the cabinet on May 11. However, the State Enterprise Police Office (SEPO) has come out to say that the Finance Ministry will not recapitalise the airline which it is the biggest shareholder, according to a Bangkok Post report. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Political News Democrat Party leader Jurin Laksanawisit made clear that his party would stick to the coalition government despite overwhelming calls from its own party MP to pull out of the coalition parties, largely due to the controversy surrounding the Phalang Pracharat Party (PPRP)’s drug convict Deputy Agriculture Minister.