ICT ministry panel to handle Thaicom case
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Information and Communica-tions Technology Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa said yesterday that his ministry would set up a committee under the Public-Private Joint Venture Act to continue to handle the legal issues involving Thaicom in the 2010 assets-seizure
A committee founded under the same law by the last government concluded that Thaicom’s iPSTAR satellite was the back-up for the now-defunct Thaicom 3, and Shin Corp had to increase its share in its subsidiary Thaicom to the former level of 51 per cent from the present 40 per cent.
RS UNIT FILES COMPLAINT
RS International Broadcasting and Sport Management, the holder of the broadcasting rights of the World Cup 2014 tournament, yesterday filed a criminal complaint against Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, claiming that it had been treated unfairly by the “must have” rule.
Under that rule, seven sport events must be broadcast only via free TV channels, including They are the Southeast Asian Games, Asean Para Games, Asian Games, Asian Para Games, Olympic Games, Paralympics and the Fifa World Cup Final.
The company also questions why, despite the must-have rule, the broadcasting committee has allowed TrueVisions to broadcast live the 17th Incheon Asian Games.
The broadcasting committee has approved TV Pool of Thailand to air the Asian Games on free TV channels and TrueVisions on its channel.
HOUSEHOLD DEBT SOARS
Household debts touched Bt10 trillion at the end of the second quarter, according to a recent report by the Bank of Thailand.
It said household debts remained an issue to be followed, given their high level and consequent lower quality of consumer loans. However, given the likely improvement of the economy, household incomes, particularly outside the agricultural sector, were expected to improve.
At the end of the quarter, net outstanding household debts totalled Bt10.03 trillion, up Bt752.73 billion or 8.11 per cent year on year and Bt142.79 billion or 1.44 per cent quarter on quarter.
Govt fiscal deficit of
Bt247 bn over 11 months
The government accumulated a fiscal deficit of nearly Bt250 billion in the first 11 months of the 2014 fiscal year through end-August, while government income was about Bt100 billion lower than in the same period last year due to lower tax revenue, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.
Krisda Chinavicharana, director-general of Fiscal Policy Office, said government income came in at around Bt1.82 trillion during the period, about 5.2 per cent lower year on year, mainly due to lower excise on cars – caused by the termination of the first-car scheme and an economic slowdown that led to reduced domestic auto demand.
Apart from collecting less tax, the government spent 2.9 per cent more than last year in the October-August period. Expenditure amounted to around Bt2.23 trillion over the 11 months.
These factors resulted in a budget deficit of Bt411.66 billion. When also taking into account an off-budget deficit of some Bt67.43 billion, the total cash budget deficit for the period is Bt479.09 billion.
New chair at CIMB Thai Bank
CIMB Thai Bank’s board has approved the appointment of Robert Cheim Dau Meng as its new chairman.
He replaces Chakramon Phasukavanich, who resigned.
Prior to the appointment, Cheim was vice chairman of the board of directors and alternate chairman of the Nomination, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee of CIMB Thai Bank.
He has been a director since the establishment of the bank in 2008.
GE lands services deal
GE’s Distributed Power business has signed a 12-year multi-year services agreement with Ratchaburi World Cogeneration (RWC) for the provision of planned maintenance for four of GE’s LM6000-PD aeroderivative gas-turbine packages.
