Briefs

The fiscal 2014 budget reflected Thailand’s strong fiscal stance with total assets of Bt6.59 trillion despite a gradual rise in debts, according to the Comptroller-General’s Department.
“The strong fiscal stance could help raise the country’s creditworthiness,” Comptroller-General Manas Jamveha said yesterday.
On the asset side, the government was sitting on treasury reserves of Bt500 billion and owned 10.36 million rai (about 1.65 million hectares) of land worth Bt3.92 trillion, accounting for 60 per cent of total assets.
The government holds investments of Bt1.99 trillion in 62 state enterprises and 55 other operations.
Of the government’s liabilities, which were equivalent to 65.48 per cent of total assets, Bt3.53 trillion were long-term and Bt472.71 billion short-term, or due in fiscal 2015. About 79 per cent of liabilities were government bonds.

MPC REPORT NOTES RISKS
The Bank of Thailand has released a report on the January 28 meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee, noting the possibility of higher risk from capital inflows after some countries launched monetary-easing policies. The financial market could also fluctuate more.
“Therefore, the MPC should focus on keeping its monetary policy stable,” the report said.
The committee said it expected inflation to drop in line with the decline in world oil prices, especially in the first half of this year. “But this is not a signal of deflation,” it added.
The MPC also said its current monetary policy was able to help boost the recovery of the economy.

At the meeting on January 28, the committee’s members voted 5-2 to keep the policy interest rate unchanged at 2 per cent, for the seventh time in a row.
The MPC forecast that the Thai economy would benefit from the sharp drop in oil prices.

RICH, CMEC SIGN PACT
Rich Asia Steel has signed a cooperation agreement with China Machinery Engineering Corporation, according to Rich’s filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
CMEC is one of the 10 largest state enterprises of China and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. CMEC has 26 subsidiaries and is invested more than 150 countries worldwide.
Under this agreement, CMEC will be an investment partner in utilities and infrastructure that will establish cooperation with leading contractors in Thailand and other Asean countries, as well as cooperating in supplying equipment and technology both domestically and overseas.
Rich says it has manufacturing facilities that can accommodate the various projects appropriately.

CONSULTANT SUSPENDED
The Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended Weeratham Charaspornsriwong, a securities investment consultant of KT ZMICO Securities Company, for trading securities on behalf of a client; failure to perform his duties with honesty by disguising the fact that trading decisions were made by a client; and seeking benefits during the performance of his duties.
Following up on a complaint lodged by a client of KT ZIMICO, the SEC found that Weeratham had persuaded the client to open a securities trading account and traded securities on behalf of that client. It was found that Weeratham determined the securities, including the amount and price.
He also asked the client to leave a savings account with him so he could help the client trade securities. In addition, he rehearsed the client in submitting orders via mobile phone before re-submitting the orders via the phone recorder in order to make up the evidence that the client had made her own trading decision.
The investigation found that Weeratham had submitted some trading orders and later asked the client to re-submit those orders via the phone recorder. Moreover, several transactions showed that the securities were traded intra-day at the price under or equal to the costs causing Weeratham to receive significantly higher incentives. The SEC suspended Weeratham from his duty for one year and six months.
Having considered that he had already been suspended by his employer for one year and six days, the suspension imposed by the SEC shall remain five months and 24 days, effective from February 12.