Briefs

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is concerned that an influx of reinsurance-claim payments could lead to baht volatility later this year after the flood waters subside.

“Although the insurance claims have not been paid yet, insurance companies have started assessing damage and are preparing for it. Compensation will be paid in baht, and the foreign-currency amounts will be exchanged into baht. That will affect the exchange rate,” said Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BOT assistant governor. The central bank is also monitoring investments in imports of new machinery, which will cause capital outflows.

 

Honda resumes ops 

Thai Honda Manufacturing Co Ltd (Thai Honda), Honda’s motorcycle and power-products production subsidiary in Thailand, yesterday resumed production of some motorcycle and power-products models following the resumption of parts supply, according to a statement. 

The firm suspended power-products production on October 6 and motorcycle production on October 11 due to parts supply disruptions. Thai Honda does not have any flood water on its property.

Concerning operations from today onward, Honda will make decisions while carefully monitoring the situation, it said. 

 

Green incentives

The Energy Conservation Fund will provide financial aid of Bt1.5 billion to help flooded factories replace machinery with energy-saving models.

The Energy Ministry proposed the idea to the Industry Ministry in a move to help flood-hit factories. The fund will focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, each of which will be provided Bt500,000. 

 

TMB drops rates 

TMB Bank is cutting interest rates for deposit accounts and bills of exchange (b/e) effective today.

The bank did not explain the decision, which comes ahead of the Bank of Thailand’s November 30 meeting, at which a policy rate cut to boost the flood-hit economy is anticipated.

TMB’s 12-month fixed deposit rate will fall 25 basis points to 3.50 per cent, while deposits in the “Up & Up” programme will fall to 3.375 per cent on average from 4 per cent. B/e rates have been slashed by a quarter percentage point to 3.75 per cent. – The Nation

 

Discounted rooms  

Krungthai Card Public (KTC), Krungthep Turakij and a group of Thai boutique hotels have jointly introduced the “Thailand Boutique Flood Relief” campaign, offering specially priced accommodations for flood victims starting from Bt850 – a more than 70-per-cent discount on rates typically charged by such hotels – until January 15.

Pittaya Vorapanyasakul, KTC’s executive vice president for travel and leisure marketing, said the catastrophic flooding is affecting more and more parts of the country, forcing greater numbers of people to relocate.

More than 40 boutique hotels are participating in the campaign. The hotel rooms will start from Bt850 per night in Bangkok and other provinces.  

 

Sansiri unaffected 

Property firm Sansiri has continued to grow this year despite the negative impact of the floods on the property market, president Srettha Thavisin said. Srettha said the company has a backlog of condos awaiting transfer to customers in the last quarter of this year of Bt6.2 billion from two projects, and a backlog of Bt31.7 billion for transfer next year and in 2013.