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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Thailand dips into cash cows to support economy

    BANGKOK: Thailand’s military government is leaning on state-run enterprises to support economic expansion by speeding up investment, as risks loom from fizzling exports and tourism.

    Outlays by state enterprises jumped almost by half to 310.9 billion baht ($9.4 billion) in January through September, government data shows.


    Officials have set the firms a goal of disbursing 95 percent of their annual investment target.

    ”These are huge companies that can drive the economy,” Prapas Kong-led, director-general of the Finance Ministry’s State Enterprise Policy Office, said in an interview in Bangkok on Thursday. “We’re trying to boost investment by state enterprises for the rest of 2018.”

    Gross domestic product growth probably eased to 4.2 percent last quarter, the slowest pace this year, according to a Bloomberg survey ahead of a Nov. 19 report. The expansion remains robust, but two key engines -- exports and tourism -- are sputtering as the Chinese economy slows. That’s putting the onus on drivers such as investment.

    Assets of state firms -- such as oil explorer PTT Pcl and airport operator Airports of Thailand Pcl -- reached 14.3 trillion baht last year. That’s almost equivalent to the value of Thai annual gross domestic product.

    But the state is struggling to make government enterprises more efficient, even as it uses them as cash cows for investment: their profits have declined from a 2013 peak, and an index of listed government firms compiled by Bloomberg fell over the past five years while the wider stock market climbed.

    ”It’s not good for Thailand to have such large state-owned enterprises, especially when they lack efficiency and are poorly managed,” said Deunden Nikomborirak, a former Finance Ministry official who tracks economic governance at the Thailand Development Research Institute in Bangkok. “They are being run like the government, with lots of rules and regulations.”

    The military administration recently scrapped a plan to set up an investment holding company for government shareholdings -- akin to Singapore’s state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte -- following criticism that it was a step toward privatization.

    Efforts to change the way state firms are run have dragged on for years. Prapas said legislation to reform their management will be finalized soon.

    The generals that seized power in a coup in 2014 have focused on spurring investment through government-run companies and state projects, seeking to lift the pace of economic expansion closer to the levels seen in neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

    Criticism of the military administration’s policies and project choices is intensifying ahead of a long-delayed general election now expected in late February.

    Aside from growing political risk, the economy next month may also have to absorb the first interest-rate increase since 2011, after the Bank of Thailand on Wednesday signaled it’s closer to normalizing monetary policy.

    ”Growth probably slowed last quarter because of cooling exports and tourism,” said Duangrat Prajaksilpthai, an economist at TMB Bank Pcl in Bangkok. “But we expect both drivers to recover in the fourth quarter. Private consumption is expected to remain strong and that should be enough to warrant a rate hike in December, or February at the latest.” - Reuters


    https://www.thestar.com.my/business/...T42ozEHrtpp.99

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    Thailand dips into cash cows to support economy
    I know Thai "ladies" are getting heavier but the term is degrading.

    Quote Originally Posted by Simon43 View Post
    Thai women - gone to the dogs...
    Or are you talking about the gender neutral foreign ATMs?

  3. #3
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    How about freeing up the royal coffers.
    Ain't it about time that they contribute to society....

  4. #4
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    The generals that seized power in a coup in 2014 have focused on spurring investment through government-run companies and state projects
    Proving again that generals know fuck all about how to run a country.

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat
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    are you saying that they are incompetent ?

  6. #6
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonfly View Post
    are you saying that they are incompetent ?
    In a nice sort of way.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    Originally Posted by misskit
    The generals that seized power in a coup in 2014 have focused on spurring investment through government-run companies and state projects
    Proving again that generals know fuck all about how to run a country.
    The idea is theoretically not so bad provided that the profits were given back to state. Remembering how many times the former govts were strongly reprimanded by IMF (when getting IMF loan) to privatize the biggest govt-run companies as EGAT, THAI, Tabacco, Fertilizer, etc. What has happen since?

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat
    aging one's Avatar
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    ^ nothing. Its all part of the corrupt state system.

  9. #9
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    It's very easy to throw on the military govt all bad things that had not been changed over last 50 years by the "democratically elected" govts supported (or not minded) by other intl. powers that be.
    And the former govts not having such strong opposition from abroad by a fugitive rich criminal(s) - not minded by intl. powers that be.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by HuangLao View Post
    How about freeing up the royal coffers.
    Ain't it about time that they contribute to society....
    Good luck with that. They exist merely as a hoax.

  11. #11
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    privatize the biggest govt-run companies as EGAT, THAI, Tabacco, Fertilizer, etc. What has happen since?
    Nothing but this is the correct answer in the long run. Agree, not just the current gov to blame. Should have been done long ago but no gov willing to take the heat from state enterprise employees who represent a very large part of the electorate.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    no gov willing to take the heat from state enterprise employees who represent a very large part of the electorate.
    ...that's why authoritarian governments have an advantage over democracies...the opinion of the electorate doesn't matter...

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    the opinion of the electorate doesn't matter...
    The "opinion of the electorate" is easily persuaded to vote for a particular, of what ever style political party, as we all know.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...that's why authoritarian governments have an advantage over democracies...the opinion of the electorate doesn't matter...
    Surprisingly, I have to agree with your statement...

  15. #15
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...that's why authoritarian governments have an advantage over democracies...the opinion of the electorate doesn't matter...
    By any measure we have had authoritarian gov for 4 yrs. Rather than privatising they are going to tax them. In turn the cost will be passed on to consumers.

    Not at all the behavior of an authoritarian gov and they are in a position to order privatisation. Reasons are obvious to the most casual observer.
    "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect,"

  16. #16
    I'm in Jail

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    So they privatise the state enterprises to increase efficiency and reduce corruption leaving two of the most corrupt institutions untouched

  17. #17
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    So they privatise the state enterprises to increase efficiency and reduce corruption leaving two of the most corrupt institutions untouched
    Can't be messing with certain sacred cows.

  18. #18
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    It's very easy to throw on the military govt all bad things that had not been changed over last 50 years by the "democratically elected" govts supported (or not minded) by other intl. powers that be.
    And the former govts not having such strong opposition from abroad by a fugitive rich criminal(s) - not minded by intl. powers that be.

    And then one has to consider the democratically-themed govts throughout this measured time. In defence, there's been quite a few [in name] since the late 70s.
    Were any of them all that?
    Still essentially ruled and controlled by military/Ammat proxy, were they not?
    As in: one-n-the-same yet appearing to be progressively/liberal democratic [whatever that is]....

  19. #19
    I'm in Jail

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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    Can't be messing with certain sacred cows.
    Norts, you can't as i discovered with my Ex

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
    as we all know
    ...so, your pocket mouse is the educated one then...

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    your pocket mouse
    Not so much these days.

  22. #22
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...that's why authoritarian governments have an advantage over democracies...the opinion of the electorate doesn't matter...
    Think you've [and most others] been taken in, TC.

    Governments, by their very nature, are authoritarian - historically the world over.
    Largely consist of a controlling and highly repressive govt/corporate mix - Corporatism.....and carry on in varying manners.
    Most obvious examples are the supposedly free and open Occidental states, where the false sense of everyday freedoms, independence, and self-sufficiency has been has been cleverly disguised and replaced with something else -

    No such beast as a democracy that has existed for some time.
    There are the usual circles retaining these dreamy states that such free, progressive, and Liberal Democracies exist....or have in the past - as such indoctrination has been repeated often and loud enough to create this false sense of reality.

    Dumbing down has become more of a state of art than a practical tool.

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