Headlines summary as of 12 November 2021

News

• The PM headed the CCSA meeting and has the following resolutions:
  • The rearrangement of the Covid control zones. The only difference is to change the status of the eastern province of Chantaburi from the dark red to be red zone.
  • The curfew for dark red zones remain intact until 30 November.
  • The CCSA has set up a new arrangement to reopen entertainment complexes from 16 January. The PM has ordered the Interior Ministry and Public Health Ministry to look into the reopening scheme.

Politics

• After the debate on the monarchical reform has been picking up, yesterday the PM exhorted moviegoers not to abandon a decades-old tradition of standing en masse to respect the country’s powerful king during the royal anthem that is played before every film. The PM has expressed concern over the act of defiance saying that “I’m concerned for those who want to stand, but are afraid to because they don’t want to get bullied. It takes bravery to stand up”.—Reuters and all media outlet
• After the historic Constitutional Court verdict, there have been several more reactions from political figures:
  • The Election Commissioner said that they will take in the constitutional court verdict to determine whether to dissolve the Move Forward Party as per requested by the same royalist lawyer who filed the case against student-led protestors.—Thai Post
  • The secretary-general of the opposition Move Forward Party said that the attempt to dissolve the party based on the fact that the party bailed the protestors is nothing but a logic fallacy. The main figure of the party said in an interview that the verdict will be used as political tools to sabotage the opposition and leave the Kingdom less rooms for the compromise and dialogue as the calls for reforms are seen only as seditious.—Inside Thailand
  • The advisor to the PM and main ruling Palang Pracharat Party leader Pirapan Salirathavibhaga posted on his social media calling for a tougher prosecution of some of the parties and movements which, he said, have been secretly destructing the constitution and the monarchy. The staunch royalist figure has warned the prosecutor for being charged with negligence, should they do not prosecute the parties involved.—Krungthep Turakij
  • The Deputy PM and the government legal pundit warned that after the verdict, the protestors must take more precautions as the court has ruled that it is not taking rights and liberty allowed by the Constitution to protest.—Krungthep Turakij
• The head of the now defunct PDRC Suthep Tuagsuban has expressed his support for the PM stance not to amend the royal defamation laws and said that the politicians who are mobilising to amend the lese majeste law to use their time and energy to develop the people well-being instead.—Krungthep Turakij
• The Opposition is scheduled to discuss the censure debate without a vote motion on 15 November.—Krungthep Turakij

Economic:

APEC

• Prime Minister Prayut gave an opening speech at the APEC CEO Summit on the theme Thailand’s APEC Priorities in 2022.  The PM reiterated that BCG will become Thailand’s national strategy in post-COVID-19 recovery and will drive its APEC chairmanship next year.  The BCG model will also lead to a balanced, sustainable and sufficiency future.  Source:  MCOT
• Ministry of Commerce (MoC) announced it is ready to take over the APEC Chairmanship from New Zealand.  MoC will oversee trade and investment facilitation aspects of APEC and will focus on forging Free Trade Agreement Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and new trade topics such as e-commerce and digital economy.  Thailand also prioritises the BCG Economic Model to help it cope with climate change and sustainable development.  MoC also congratulated New Zealand for ratifying RCEP on 2 November, which has ensured the trade pact will be enforced on 1 January next year and will be pivotal in resuscitating the regional economy.  MoC has asked new Zealand to import more Thai products such as electrical appliances, rubber and tapioca products.  Source:  Thansettakij

Others

• On 10 November, Board of Investment organised the online BOI-Foreign Chambers of Commerce Consultative Meeting to discuss ways to improve ease of doing business and attract more foreign investment.  Attending the meeting were ML Chayothid, adviser to DPM Supattanapong; BOI executives, representatives from Thai government; and 36 foreign chambers of commerce.  JFCCT discussed measures to promote investments into BCG business as well as reskilling and upskilling human resources to adapt to new technology trends.  Sources:  Post Today Thai Government News
• The Bank of Thailand (BoT) relaxed a dividend payment policy for banks, wherein financial institutions are allowed to pay 2021 dividends not exceeding 50 percent of 2021 net profits and should maintain a cautious approach in accordance with their performance and risks that may arise.  Results of a stress test for 2021-2023 showed banks remain resilient to withstand such a situation and had enhanced their readiness to deal with uncertainty by increasing their loan loss provisions.  Source:  Bangkok Post  Bank of Thailand press release
• The 11.11 shopping feat saw Thai e-commerce platforms Lazada and Shopee reporting exponential sales growth, with the former seeing a record-breaking 200 percent sales growth in the first 2 hours and the retailers a 300 percent increase in sales figures.   Shopee reported that 11 million pieces of items were sold within the first 5 minutes.  E-Commerce value in 2021 is expected to expand by 6.1 percent YoY to reach 4 trillion Baht.  Source:  Krungthep Turakij
• Thai Airways International (THAI) is expected to seek 25 billion Baht in loans to boost its financial liquidity as the airline expands its cargo flight services to a further 30 routes from now until March 2022.  The government had said it will not give Thai Airways the loan and suggests the airline seeks such loan from the private sector.  However, should Thai Airways borrow from the private sector, Ministry of Finance would hold only 8 percent shares of the national airline rather than the current 48 percent; an option which MoF is deliberating.  Sources:  Krungthep Turakij Bangkok Post
• Ministry of Commerce (MoC) anticipates export in 2022 will expand than this year as the economic growth of trading partners start to slow down.  MoC has rolled out 5 strategies to organise 159 marketing activities, such as promoting BCG products and marketing opportunities; penetrating new markets; promoting online trading e-commerce platform thaitrade.com; upskill/reskill the entrepreneurs; and use technologies to improve international trade services.  Source:  Krungthep Turakij newspaper, 12 November 2021
• Bank of Thailand unveiled the BOT Regional Activity Tracker (BOT RAT), which enables it to track in real time economic situations, trends and people’s living conditions in all regions.  The information tracked by BOT RAT will be released monthly, starting from November 15.  Sources:  Bangkok Post  Krungthep Turakij