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The Cabinet yesterday approved a budget of Bt270 billion to fund the rice pledging programme for 2013-14.

The pledging scheme will pay farmers Bt15,000 a tonne for paddy rice for main crop and Bt13,000 for the second crop.

 

BOT ready for QE tapering 

The Bank of Thailand is well prepared to deal with a reduction in the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing, Deputy Governor Pongpen Ruengvirayudh reaffirmed.

She added that the appreciation of the baht yesterday was in line with other currencies in the region.

Suchada Kirakul, an adviser to the BOT, said the financial and capital markets had fluctuated as nobody could predict when, how and to what extent QE would be reduced. 

“The most important thing is that we need to prepare ourselves to be strong enough to deal with such fluctuation, whether the financial-institution system or financial discipline, as well as private and household debts,” she said. 

 

Morgan Stanley cuts Thai growth 

Global financial-services firm Morgan Stanley has lowered its forecast of Thai economic growth to 3.7 per cent this year from the previous projection of 4.7 per cent.

Thailand’s weak current account exposes the country to the risk of tight liquidity if the US Federal Reserve starts tapering its quantitative-easing (QE) programme, it said.  It has also lowered its forecast of the average economic growth of four Asean economies – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore – this year to 4.5 per cent from the previous forecast of 4.8 per cent, because of their lower-than-expected growth rates in the first half. 

The Asean region will also be affected by the Fed’s planned QE tapering. But Morgan Stanley noted that the region’s export sector might be boosted by the economic recovery of the developed countries.

 

Meet on emergency response 

More than 100 professionals in aviation crisis management and emergency response gathered in Bangkok yesterday for the fifth “AAPA Emergency Response Conference” organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Co-hosted by Thai Airways International and Bangkok Airways, the conference theme was “Integration, Information and Continuity”. This year’s event discussed the integration, coordination and flow of information among relevant parties in times of crisis, within the emergency-response framework.

“Crisis management and emergency response preparedness are closely linked,” Andrew Herdman, AAPA director-general, said in his welcoming address.  

“Aircraft accidents are rare events, but airlines also have to put in place contingency plans for other potential crises or events that may significantly affect airline operations. In this region, we have already learned some important lessons from past crises, such as Sars [severe acute respiratory syndrome] and avian-flu outbreaks, as well as typhoons, volcanic-ash clouds and a number of other natural disasters.”