Briefs

The Excise Department’s tax revenue collection amounted to Bt349.68 billion for the first eight months of fiscal year 2016 starting October – 5.10 per cent or Bt16.97 billion higher than the estimate.
Somchai Pulsawas, director-general at the Excise Department, said that the eight-month excise tax revenue collection rose 18.41 per cent or Bt54.37 billion from the same period of the previous fiscal year.
The excise tax on oil and oil-related products topped the list with a tax revenue collection of Bt114.60 billion, followed by automobiles at Bt67.04 billion and beer (Bt62.17 billion).
In May, the excise tax revenue collection totalled Bt42.95 billion, 8.57 per cent higher than the estimate and 34.17 per cent higher than the same month a year before.

TOCOM, TFEX  SIGN MOU

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (Tocom) and Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX) announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a cooperative relationship between the two exchanges.
Both parties agreed to exert effort to develop areas of cooperation and business opportunities which will mutually benefit both exchanges and lead to enhanced liquidity, efficiency and integrity of the two marketplaces, said Takamichi Hamada, president and chief executive of Tocom.
TFEX managing director Dr Rinjai Chakornpipat stated that the MoU was just the starting point for the cooperation between two exchanges.
Rinjai said the cooperation would not only include knowledge sharing between exchanges but also the exploring of feasible product cooperation that would benefit both marketplaces.

CHEWATHAI ACQUIRES AQ ARIA ASOKE

Chewathai Plc has announced the acquisition of AQ Aria Asoke for Bt586 million from AQ Estate Plc.
The company will develop the project as a 29-storey building comprising 315 units for residential purposes and one unit for commercial purpose with a total area of 21,212 square metres.

Fitch: No bubble in Philippine property market despite price upswing
Debt watcher Fitch Ratings believes the Philippines’ real estate industry is not overheating despite rising property prices and robust lending from banks.
“Data released showed brisk but not excessive property price growth, suggesting that robust real estate activity over the last few years has not led to significant overheating in the property market,” Fitch said in a statement, citing data from the recently released residential real estate price indices of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine central bank).
Data showed real property prices rose 9.2 per cent during the first three months of 2016, faster than the growth rate of 5.1 per cent a quarter ago.
“Loans for real estate purposes, which make up about 19 per cent of total loans, have increased rapidly since 2010, raising questions around potential overheating in the property market,” Fitch said.
It said lending growth remained at a high 17 per cent during the mid-2014 to end-2015 period despite tighter regulations introduced two years ago, including a 60-per-cent cap on property collateral values and real estate stress test.
Still, the debt watcher said bank lending to real estate remained at manageable levels. -- Philippine Daily Inquirer