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Welfare scheme sees 5.6m registrations
More than 5.6 million people have signed up for the government’s new welfare scheme that was closed for registration yesterday.
The programme was opened for registration on July 15 through three state-owned banks: the Government Savings Bank (GSB), Krungthai Bank (KTB) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
The three banks had previously expected between 3 million and 5 million people to take part in the programme that is available to Thais who earn less than Bt100,000 a year.
GSB yesterday reported that 1.947 million people had signed up with the bank, while KTB reported 1.09 million. BAAC did not disclose the latest figures yesterday but as of Sunday it reported that 2.545 million people had signed up with the bank.
The Fiscal Policy Office previously estimated about 20 million people were qualified to benefit from the scheme.
The welfare payments will begin early next year. Low-income earners who have not signed up yet will be able to do so next year, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said.
NEW TRADE ACT TO GO TO CABINET
The Commerce Ministry expects to propose a new version of the Trade Competition Act for the Cabinet’s approval on August 23, hoping that the law will come into force early next year to ensure fair play and control bad business behaviour.
The draft bill has already been scrutinised by the Office of the Council of State. If the Cabinet approves it, then the bill will be passed on to the National Legislative Assembly for ratification, and implemented after its announcement in the Royal Gazette.
Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the Commerce Ministry was confident that this act would help prevent unfair practices among businesses and promote more investment.
BANGKOK RANKED TOPS FOR TASTY STREET FOOD
CNN.com has listed 23 cities around the world considered to have exemplary street food, with Bangkok leading the online report.
Other destinations listed were Tokyo, Honolulu, Durban, New Orleans, Hong Kong and Mumbai.
The website singled out Bangkok’s Chinatown and Yaowarat Road as areas that food lovers should not miss when taking a culinary journey around Thailand’s capital.
The CNN website quoted advice from Chef Van, of the French brasserie 4Garcons on Bangkok’s Thong Lor Road, who recommended two of his favourite dishes for Bangkok’s visitors: “hoi thot nai mong”, a crispy fried-mussel pancake cooked on a charcoal stove by a famous street food vendor in the Yaowarat area, and “kuai tieo kai Soi Sai Nam Pheung”, noodle soup with chicken wing stewed with young egg and pork intestines, famously served in Soi Sai Nam Pheung.
Campaign to cut cost of living
The Commerce Ministry will kick off a cheap price campaign from Thursday to August 25 to help save Bt9 billion from the cost of living.
Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said yesterday that the “Commerce fair to reduce cost of living and stimulate economic growth” should generate about Bt30 billion during the eight-day run.
Visitors can find discounts of 15-80 per cent on consumer goods, foods and One Tambon One Product merchandise.
Sixteen manufacturers and modern traders will help organise 13,500 cheap price fairs nationwide.
Malee’s Q2 net profit jumps 74 per cent
Malee Group has record its highest quarterly sales since its establishment and operation in 1978, with second-quarter sales soaring 39 per cent to Bt1.75 billion.
Roongchat Boonyarat, chief operating officer, said yesterday that net profit surged 74 per cent to Bt143 million from the same quarter last year.
For the first half of this year, group sales jumped by 29 per cent to Bt3.29 billion and net profit by 51 per cent to Bt252 million.
Group Lease posts a doubling in Q2 profit
Thanks to very strong performances in Thailand and particularly in Cambodia and Laos, digital finance firm Group Lease Plc has reported a staggering Bt255.85 million profit in the second quarter of this year, which nearly doubles its profit from the same quarter last year.
Given the positive economic outlook in Thailand and the region, plus the fact that GL’s new subsidiary in Indonesia, Group Lease Finance Indonesia, has started operations, GL senior management has expressed confidence that the company will be able to continue the momentum of setting more record-high quarterly profits well into the future.
“We had made projections in the past that our net profit of more than Bt500 million last year will double to Bt1 billion this year,” executive chairman Tatsuya Konoshita said. “We are now quite confident that we will be able to achieve that.”
