Headlines summary as of 20 July 2021

News

• Pfizer and Biontech issued a press release that the company will send 20 million doses of its mRNA vaccines to Thailand in the 4^th Quarter. The company signed its contract with the Department of Disease Control, Public Health Ministry.—Than Settakij
• Please find the English infographic of the newest restriction by CCSA attached.
• Yesterday, the CCSA spokesperson cited the Krungsri Research forecast of the COVID new cases saying that in the worst case scenario the number of the daily new cases could be as high as 31,000 cases per day, providing that the public did not comply with the public health measures.—Khao Sod, Reuters
• In regards to the Deputy PM and Public Health Minister announcement to impose export quota of the locally-sourced Astra Zeneca vaccines, the head of the CCSA Operation Centre said that the Health Minister had met and consulted with the PM on this matter and the Health Minister will bring to proposal back to reconsider before informing the PM again.—Krungthep Turakij

Politics

• The PM announced that he is going to start completely working from home from 20 July onwards to comply with the Public Health measures.—Krungthep Turakij
• The House Speaker has ordered the Parliament to halt the Parliament session for one more week compiling with the CCSA health regulations.–Matichon
  • A main figure in the main Opposition Pheu Thai Party gave an interview that the Opposition will submit their censure debate motion in August
• After there was an online campaign to ban ‘Food Panda’ as the official account of the food delivery said that a Food Panda employee who joined the protest on Sunday is a terrorist, the employee was apprehended by police on royal defamation charge.–Matichon
• The Deputy Army Spokesperson dismissed the online circulation of the draft of the martial law imposed on Bangkok to curb the pandemic as fake. The Army has asked people cooperation not to distribute or circulate the documents.—Krungthep Turakij
• The Digital Economy Minister said that he has ordered an espionage mission of the Ministry’s staff to get into the communication of the protestors and is going to prosecute any user who broke the laws.–Matichon

Economic:

• The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) expects the economic loss stemming from extended lockdown measures will increase to 3 – 4 billion Baht daily from its earlier projection of 2 -3 billion Baht daily.  In 1 month, the loss will reach 90-120 billion Baht, for which the TCC will discuss with its members nationwide to devise plans to cope with the lockdown, such as bubble and seal routes for workers.  TCC urges the government to provide immediate assistance to affected businesses and to expedite vaccination for workers to protect the export sector.  Source:  Matichon  INN News  Daily News
• According to SME Federation of Thailand, the current lockdown is imposed on 13 provinces that generate economic value of 9.8 trillion Baht; equivalent to 60 percent of Thai GDP which total GDP of 16.8 trillion Baht.  As such, the current lockdown will cause GDP to decline by 160 billion Baht monthly.  When combined with the government’s previous 3-month semi-lockdown measures, which affected GDP by 150 billion Baht (50 billion Baht monthly), the total loss will amount to 300 billion Baht.  This could cause 2021 GDP to expand below 1 percent.  Within this week, the SME Federation of Thailand will join forces with 30 members to submit 5 proposals to PM Prayut to assist SMEs from all business sectors.  Source:  TNN Thailand
• Asia Plus Securities noted that Thailand’s GDP this year could fall into the negative territory as the current lockdown is expected to be as strict as back in 2020, which caused GDP to contract by -6.2 percent.  Thailand’s number of daily infection, which exceeds 10,000 cases per day, is ranked second Southeast Asia.   An APS studies indicated that the latest restrictions will affect 73 percent of listed firms’ profits, of which 14 percent are highly impacted.  Some 6 business segments such as retail, hotel, aviation, media and restaurants will be most affected.  The 5 sectors that are least affected are energy, petrochemical, refinery and oil.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• The Real Estate Information Center (REIC) expects the housing market to experience severe contraction in 2021.  The extended lockdown is worsening the woes of the market which is already hard hit by the impact of the 30-day closure of construction sites and workers’ camps in Greater Bangkok since earlier this month.  Homebuyers are expected to continue delaying home purchases, wherein nationwide resident transfers will plunge by 19.7 percent to 288,045 units in the worst-case-scenario.  From the supply side, the worst case scenario translates into the number of construction permits nationwide dropping by 15.6 percent to 275,079.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• The extended lockdown measures are jeopardising Thai AirAsia’s financial status as it is in the midst of preparing a business restructuring plan that will see an injection of 3.5 billion Baht loan through new investors.  However, the airline had to halt domestic flights since 12 July to comply with lockdown measures.  Thai AirAsia bemoans the government’s lack of assistance for the aviation sector that employs up to 15,000 people and reprimanded the government for not responding to the aviation industry’s request for a soft loan since last year. Should the airlines collapse, the government might not be able to meet tax revenue collection target, while shouldering the burden of repaying the 3.3 trillion Baht loan.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• The PTT Group, through its power generation arm Global Power Synergy Plc (GPSC), yesterday opened the first semi-solid battery production facility in Southeast Asia.  Located in Rayong province’s Map Tha Phut area, the 1.1-billion-Baht factory will produce ‘G Cell’ batteries are lighter, have lower production cost and can be recycled.  This is in line with the Thai government’s Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emission policy and the promotion of renewable technology to support the S-Curve industries, such as Electric Vehicles and Smart City.  GPSC is a licensee of US-based 24M Technologies Inc, which also developed the semi-solid battery technology.  Sources:  TNN Thailand Bangkok Post