BOT, banks reserve cash for Songkran
DEMAND for banknotes in the week leading up to the Songkran holiday will be Bt30 billion, a 3 per cent increase from the holiday period last year, the Bank of Thailand forecasts.
The central bank has enough banknotes in reserve to cope with the strong demand, Woraporn Tangsaghasaksri, the BOT’s assistant governor for the Banknote Management Group, said in a press release yesterday.
Meanwhile, Bangkok Bank has prepared more than Bt36 billion in cash reserves for its 9,500 automated teller machines nationwide to serve customers during the April 13-16 Songkran holiday period.
BBL will keep more than 330 micro-branches in shopping malls open for business as usual during Songkran. It will resume normal operations on Monday, April 17.
Bank of Ayudhya has reserved more than Bt9.6 billion in cash for its 659 branches and 6,250 ATMs nationwide to serve customers during the holiday period. Of this amount, Bt6.9 billion has been reserved for ATMs.
The cash reserve for the festive season this year is 11 per cent higher than for last Songkran, Krungsri said in a statement yesterday.
CIMB Thai will reserve Bt500 million in cash for the Songkran period. Of that total, Bt300 million will be for its 88 ATMs at its branches and the rest for its 59 ATMs outside its branch locations.
Kasikorn Research Centre forecasts that Bangkok residents will spend Bt23 billion during the Songkran period. Up to Bt8.8 billion will be spent on dining, Bt5.8 billion for travel, Bt4.4 billion for shopping, Bt2 billion for donations, and Bt2 billion for other activities.
Meanwhile, the National Broad-casting and Telecommunications Commission has asked all mobile-phone operators to step up their network capacity from April 13 to 17 to ensure that their customers do not experience any call difficulties during the period, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said yesterday.
