Briefs

Growth projection for Asean-5, including Thailand, is cut by 0.1 percentage point from the original “World Economic Outlook” report released in October, to 4.8 per cent for 2016 and by 0.2 percentage point to 5.1 per cent for 2017.
The region’s 2015 growth was estimated at 4.7 per cent.

Riceberry photo contest

The Commerce Ministry is running its “Riceberry with Love” photo contest for the second year. By posting a picture with riceberry products, social-media users could win 500 kilograms of the organic rice.

KRUNGSRI NET JUMPS 31.6% IN 2015
Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya and its business units) announced robust performance for 2015 with a net profit of Bt18.9 billion, a 31.6-per-cent increase from 2014.
The increase in net profit was attributed to substantially higher net interest income supported by loan growth, higher net fees and service income growth, and effective expense management.
Lending increased by 28.7 per cent, a significant increase of Bt290.7 billion from 2014. The corporate segment was the key contributor with an increase of 84.6 per cent, largely driven by corporate loan transfers from BTMU (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ) Bangkok Branch, followed by the retail segments, which recorded a broad-based growth in hire purchase, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans of 12 per cent.
Meanwhile, the SME segment recorded a contraction of 8.2 per cent.
Deposits increased by 24.9 per cent, up by Bt208.7 billion from 2014, mainly resulting from deposit transfers from BTMU Bangkok Branch, and sustained growth of special savings products and special benefits savings. Current and savings deposits were 51.5 per cent of total deposits at the end of December.