Uncertainty surrounding LPG price float policy

The move is awaiting Royal Gazette endorsement. Then the LPG price will be raised by Bt3 per kilogram each quarter.
Outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva signed the Energy Ministry order for the price flotation policy on July 1.
Yesterday, the Energy Policy Administration Committee also agreed to reduce the contribution to the Oil Fund by diesel traders by 60 satang per litre. The reduction is in line with the increase of the crude-oil price in the world market by US$3.18 per barrel. The decision will allow traders' margin to reach Bt1.14 instead of 54 satang per litre.
The strategy will prolong the controlled retail price of diesel at Bt29.99 per litre.
Norkhun Sittipong, permanent secretary of the Energy Ministry, said yesterday that money flowing into the Oil Fund would drop from Bt82 million to Bt49 million per day. The Oil Fund reports a negative value of Bt1.13 billion.
There have as yet been no details on Yingluck Shinawatra's announcement at a political rally during the just-concluded election campaign that her government would abolish the Oil Fund. The Energy Ministry has to wait for the new government's energy policy.

CPI up 4.19% in June

Though fuel prices dropped on year, food prices were higher and contributed largely to the high inflation figure.
Month-on-month, the inflation increased 0.13 per cent.
However, inflation in the first half expanded 3.56 per cent, well within the authorities' expectation. The Bank of Thailand targets headline inflation to expand 3-5 per cent this year, due mainly to higher food and fuel prices.
Yanyong Phuangrach, permanent secretary of the Commerce Ministry, said inflation has expanding more steadily and reflected stable economic growth. However, a possible increase in oil prices and interest rates may further boost costs of goods in the remaining months of the year, he warned.

Singha Corp is more optimistic about growth

"The overall beer market, worth more than Bt100 billion, is expected to be positive this year because of the coming election, which will result in better cash flow in the market," marketing director Chatchai Wiratyosin said. "Without any surprising incidents after the election, I believe the overall economy and the beer industry will be quite positive."
Chatchai said the company achieved 2percent growth in beer sales last year, which was in line with the growth of the overall Thai beer industry.
"We expect to increase our market share from 64 per cent currently to 65 per cent by the end of this year," he said.


He added that Thai Beverage's Chang beer, its closest competitor, posted a market share of 31 per cent.
"The local beer market, however, has been pressured by the government's strict regulations and ban on advertising."
Chatchai said the overall beer marฌket achieved nearly Bt50 billion in total sales in the first five months of this year.
Singha Corp yesterday held a oneday event at CentralWorld to celebrate Manchester United's success last seaฌson in claiming a record 19th Football League title to become the most successful club in English soccer.
"We invited [Rio] Ferdinand, the world's most expensive defender, to the country as the club's representative to thank Thai fans for the strong support they have always given to the team as well as offering them a chance to join in title celebrations," Chatchai said.
"The Thailand visit is part of Manchester United's Asian Trophy Tour by its stars Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Park JiSung, who will make separate visits to particular markets in Asia to meet and greet the club's fans.

Two years to buy

The CAT board approved the establishment of a committee to study the state agency's plan for dealing with the concessions after their terms end. The twoyear period for asset buybacks is part of the plan.
CAT owns the concessions of TrueMove, Digital Phone Co, and Total Access Communication (DTAC). The concessions of TrueMove and DPC will end in 2013, and that of DTAC in 2018. Once their concession terms end, they will have to transfer their network assets to CAT on a buildtransferoperate (BTO) basis.

Late this week, TOT's board gave approval for TOT subsidiary ACT Mobile to manage the telecomnetwork assets of cellular concession holder Advanced Info Service after its term ends in 2015.
In a separate matter, CAT will sign a memorandum of understanding with TOT next week on the planned collaboration of their broadband wireฌless and fibreoptic services.
The agreement will see collaboration in three areas. First, the two agencies will allow subscribers of their thirdgeneration networks to roam for voice and data services on each other's networks in a move to carpet Thailand quickly with wireless broadband service.
CAT and TOT have both begun setting up nationwide 3G networks, CAT on its 800megahertz band and TOT on it 2.1gigahertz band. Subscribers with combined 800MHz and 2.1GHz modes in their mobile phones will be able to roam on both networks for their convenience.
In addition, the two state agencies will share 3G network locations to save costs and will determine in which areas they would set up a fibreoptic broadband service to avoid investment redundancy.
CAT Telecom president Jirayuth Roongsrithong said the agency had submitted a request to the National Telecommunications Commission to install and use the 3G network equipment. It is waiting for NTC approval. He said CAT would finish setting up 1,000 3G base stations in August.
CAT will soon explain to the new government's Information and Communications Technology Ministry its plan to spend Bt12 billion on installing the network on its own to serve its business of wholesaling and reselling the 3G service. Jirayuth said the budget would be used next year.

Economists lean toward Democrat policies

A recent survey of 73 leading economists found that they thought the Democrat Party's economic policies were generally more feasible than the Pheu Thai Party's policies.

Out of nine selected policies, the Democrats had seven viable policies, while only five policies of Pheu Thai in the same group were considered practical, according to the pollsters at the Research Institute of Bangkok University.

The survey was conducted from June 13 to 20 and the results posted on the university's website today.

The 73 unnamed economists - who work for 26 leading organisations in economic analysis and research - were asked to assess and compare a number of policy areas common to both parties.

In the first cluster of policies, the economists believed seven out of the nine Democrat Party's policies were feasible, and five out of the nine policies of the Pheu Thai Party were realistic.

The seven policies of the Democrat Party seen as being feasible were:
1. A minimum wage increase of at least 25 per cent in two years
2. Increase farmers’ profits by 25 per cent under the income insurance scheme for farmers
3. Curbing the problem of the informal and non-bank debts
4. Using a single identification card to receive health care services under the government's universal health care scheme
5. Turn tambon Laem Chabang in Si Racha district of Chon Buri into a “harbour city” with a high speed train link  to Bangkok and Rayong.
6. Build a 166-kilometre electric rail link connecting Bangkok with Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan within five years
7. Increase the amount of loans in the program providing soft loans for 250,000 students

Two polices of the Democrat Party seen as not viable were the policy to tackle the illegal drug problem by setting up a new 2,500 anti-drug task force and to ensure public access to the Third Generation (3G) internet connection in every tambon nationwide.

The five viable policies of Pheu Thai were:
1. The rice mortgage program guaranteeing between 15,000 and 20,000 baht per 2,000 liters.
2. To suspend debt repayments for individuals for up to 3 years
3. To "bring back" the 30 baht health care scheme
4. To provide free wi-fi access in public places
5. To base students’ government loan repayments on their current incomes

The four policies of Pheu Thai that the economists thought were impractical were:  to raise the daily minimum wage to 300 baht, contain the illegal drug problem within a year, a high-speed train system from Chiang Mai to Rayong (through Nakhon Ratchasima), and expand the Airport Rail Link to Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Pattaya, as well as to increase the electric rail system’s number of lines to 10 and charge   passengers a fixed rate of 20 baht per trip.

In the second group of policies, three policies of each of the two parties were assessed by the same group of the 73 economists. They gave the thumbs up to all three policies of the Democrat Party and to two out of the three Pheu Thai policies.

In particular, the economists criticised Pheu Thai’s policy to give “energy credit cards” to the taxi drivers (cabs, samlors, vans and motorcycles) for use in refueling.

According to the survey, the economists thought three policies, two of the Democrat Party and one of Pheu Thai, were equally good and practical.

One of the best policies of the Democrat Party in the economists’ perspectives was the policy to link Bangkok with Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan with a 166km long electric rail route within five years.

The other policy of the Democrats seen as one of the best was the policy to provide a pension to people aged 60 and older using the money from the national savings fund to which the government will be required to contribute.

As for the Pheu Thai Party, the economists thought the rice mortgage policy in which the party has guaranteed to buy unmilled ordinary rice for at least 15,000 baht per 2,000 liters and 20,000 baht per 2,000 liters of Hom Mali unmilled rice.

Although regarded as impractical in those economists’ opinions, Pheu Thai’s policy to bring an end to the illegal drug problem within a year was considered a better choice compared with a similar anti-drug policy of the Democrat Party.

The 3G community internet of the Democrats and the free public wi-fi access of Pheu Thai were both seen by the economists as equally impracticable.

Meanwhile, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) urged voters to consider whether the policies of various political parties can actually be implemented.

NESDB secretary-general Arkhom Termpittyapaisith said on Tuesday that the policies proposed by different parties need massive investment.

"The political parties will experience many budget constraints when they run the administration.

"There is little room for implementing new investment projects because the investment budget accounts about 17 to 18 per cent of the total budget, or 400 billion to 450 billion baht," Mr Arkhom said.

He said the new government should implement a balanced policy among various groups such as the private sector and low income earners.

Political parties should let people know that raising the minimum wage would depend on the role of the tri-party wage committee involving the private and public sectors and employees.

"Various political parties focus their campaigns only on policies that  attract voters without educating their voters on the real implementation.
"They should explain how they would implement them.”

He said that political parties should pay attention to basic policies, such as education, public health and environment.

Regarding education policy, the government needs to consider the quality of child development and the quality of education. When the education system is improved, the industrial sector's demand would be met, he said.

Political parties should also focus on the quality of public health services and people's consumption behaviour  that can lead to illness.

He said some parties did not mention environmental policies, such as ways to reduce pollution in Bangkok and other major cities and ways to reduce fuel consumption in the transport sector.

He also said parties should propose policies on ways to mitigate potential natural disasters. They don't.

KBank corporate loans shine

Kasikornbank (KBank) enjoyed better-than-expected corporate loan growth in the first half of the year thanks to the strong domestic economy and gains in commodity prices.

Executive vice-president Vasin Vanichvoranun said KBank had already met its corporate loan growth goal for the whole year of 20 billion baht or 6%, raising its corporate loan portfolio to 340 billion.

This year it has issued 45.2 billion baht in loans to 33 projects with an investment value of 110 billion, though only raising a total of 72.6 billion.
KBank expects revenue of 15 billion baht for this sector for the entire year, including fee income of 7.14 billion.
The highest loan growth was in the utilities sector, which grew by 20%.
This was followed by petrochemicals at 8.6%, construction 5.7% and automotive and electronic 5.2%.
"Even the agricultural sector, which would usually post a contraction, was able to maintain its lending amount this year, because of the rises in global commodities prices," said Mr Vasin.
Low interest rates and business expansion through mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures are supporting factors.
He said that in the first half, the bank was aggressive in providing comprehensive loan schemes for specific areas that it determined enjoyed great potential.
These were energy-saving investments, public-sector projects and funding for acquisitions.
Another focus was financial solutions for the whole value chain, such as funding for projects that build regional partnerships, as well as hedging instruments for customers.
He added that the bank was working on 31 potential projects requiring 197 billion baht in funding, of which it would likely provide 70 billion.

SET index rises 14.63 points

The Stock Exchange of Thailand main index went up 14.63 points or 1.44% to close at 1,027.72 points at the end of trading session on Tuesday afternoon. The trade value was 22.25 billion baht.

The SET50 index ended at 717.78 points, up 12.16 points or 1.72%, with a total trade value of 16.70 billion baht.
The SET100 index went up 25.26 points or 1.64% to stand at 1,563.25 points, with a total turnover of 19.05 billion baht.
The MAI index went up 2.77 points or 0.95% to close at 295.12 points, with total transaction value of 719.76 million baht.
Top five most active values were as follows;
PTTCH      closed at     150.00 baht, up 5.50 baht (3.81%)
PTT          closed at     334.00 baht, up 5.00 baht (1.52%)
BBL          closed at     151.00 baht, up 2.00 baht (1.34%)
KBANK      closed at     116.00 baht, up 5.00 baht (4.50%)
TOP          closed at       72.50 baht, up 2.50 baht (3.57%)