News feed

The depreciation of the baht this week was in line with other currencies in the region that have declined against the strengthening of the US dollar, the Bank of Thailand said.

Chantavarn Sucharitakul, the central bank’s assistant governor for the Financial Markets Operations Group, said the yen also depreciated after the Bank of Japan’s decision to expand its stimulus spending at the beginning of the week. The baht weakened further from the depreciation of the euro, but there is no irregularity regarding the movement of funds.

According to the Bloomberg website, the baht closed at 32.92 per dollar yesterday, which represented a decline of 0.09 per cent from 32.84 a day earlier. The currency has been on a depreciation trend for the past 17 days, from 32.26 on October 21. 

Malaysia’s ringgit declined by 0.28 per cent between Thursday and yesterday, and Indonesia’s rupiah by 0.25 per cent.

 

THAI warned on loans 

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that he would like Thai Airways International to carry out its rehabilitation plan without borrowing any money, whether Bt20 billion from the Finance Ministry or Bt7 billion from the Government Savings Bank, but to rely on its own operational cash flow. 

That would allow THAI to strengthen its image in the eyes of investors and financial institutions.

The national airline needs a clear rehabilitation plan, which will be finalised by the end of this year, and then proposed to the so-called superboard overseeing state enterprises. 

Recently, GSB approved a short-term bill of exchange worth Bt7 billion for THAI a with tenor of no more than 12 months, under the condition that the airline guarantee in writing that it can acquire long-term funds to substitute for this short-term loan.

Kulit Sombatsiri, director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office, said a consulting committee had been appointed to come up with a rehabilitation plan for THAI, which would be submitted to the State Enterprise Policy Commission, as the superboard is officially known, to be considered next month.

 

AOT president ‘in April’

Airports of Thailand is expected to have a new president in April after it has received five applicants for the post.

One of them is Nitinai Sirismatakarn, deputy director of the Fiscal Policy Research Institute Foundation, who is a former AOT president. Also in the race are Korkij Danchaivichit, deputy secretary of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and Krit Thanisarapong, managing director of Civil Engineering Co. He was a candidate for the AOT presidency previously. 

AOT acting president Nirandra Theeranartsin said yesterday that the new president would succeed Mekin Petchplai, who resigned from his post on September 16.

He said the selection committee for the new president was expected to hold a meeting in the middle of this month to stipulate requirements for the job.