Democracies look to voters for validation of their economic policies. For Thailand’s military junta, the affirmation is coming from Beijing, bankers and the likes of Harley-Davidson Inc.Harley’s decision to build a new Thai factory to supply Southeast Asia should be reassuring to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
For Southeast Asia’s biggest economies, 2018 wasn’t supposed to be like this.If a widening trade war wasn’t enough to contend with, a global wave of policy tightening, strong oil prices and domestic politics are also weighing on growth prospects for the region.
The global community stood transfixed as the story of the Moo Pa football team and their coach who found themselves trapped in a Chiang Rai cave complex in Northern Thailand unfolded. The world was with them every step of the way as an international group of rescuers weighed the options, prepared for the mission, lost a member, and later led the boys and their coach one by one out to safety. Their plight also caught the attention of the football world.
The British diver who found 12 Thai boys and their coach trapped alive in a flooded cave has described his "massive relief" as he counted them one by one, sparking a rescue bid unprecedented in its daring and complexity.
Thailand is seeking Chinese investment to help galvanize a five-year, 1.7 trillion-baht (US$51 billion) development plan for its eastern seaboard to bolster the economy.While political tension has shadowed Chinese investment in nations from Australia to Sri Lanka, the Thai military government views its so-called Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project as well placed to link with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The world is waiting with bated breath as rescue operations for the 12 trapped Thai boys along with their football coach is currently underway. Latest reports at the time of writing show that four boys were rescued on Sunday. Thai authorities say that the group are safe but did not elaborate further on their condition.
Southeast Asia’s central bankers are taking diverging policy stances even as their economies get slammed by the same headwinds.United States (US) dollar strength, higher oil prices, and global monetary policy tightening are adding pressure on key emerging markets to protect their currencies and curb outflows. Amid all that volatility, central banks still have their inflation targets to consider.
The slide in emerging markets is spooking Thailand’s US$26 billion Government Pension Fund.The fund will continue to avoid investing in developing-nation equities and bonds because of the risk of increased outflows due to global trade tensions and weakening currencies, according to its Secretary General Vitai Ratanakorn.The return on investment has been “disappointing” this year, compared with a 6.4 percent gain in 2017, as the value of domestic and foreign equities has slumped, Vitai said.
12 boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded Thai cave for nine days were found alive late Monday after a painstaking search by specialist divers who finally discovered the emaciated group on a mud embankment. There had been no contact with the boys, aged between 11 and 16, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach on 23 June.
Securities, or not securities.
Thailand will seek bids in the fourth-quarter for a 180 billion baht (US$5.5 billion) high-speed rail project that’s part of a wider plan for a train network to China.The bidder will build the first half of the network in Thailand, Minister of Transport Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said in an interview Thursday.
In April, thousands of green ribbon-wearing protestors took to the streets of Bangkok, as well as the northern city of Chiang Mai and other towns around Thailand, in one of the largest civil rallies the ASEAN member state has seen since General Prayut Chan-o-cha's military junta wrested control of the nation from a caretaker government led by former Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan in 2014.At first glance, these demonstrators – who staged their protests despite a ban on public
