Briefs

Budget spending exceeded the target by 1.94 per cent for October 1, 2016, to April 28, the Comptroller General's Department.
The budget disbursement for the period was 0.86 per cent higher than that in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Oranuch Vinusit, an adviser in fiscal and financial system development at the Comptroller General's Department, said the disbursement totalled Bt1.65 trillion, or 60.46 per cent of the budgeted amount for this fiscal year. Of this amount, Bt1.44 trillion was for recurring expenditure and the remainder was put into investments.
“The department is supervising and monitoring the budget disbursement for the remaining five months of the 2017 fiscal year so that everything will come in as planned and the budget disbursement will be as targeted,” Oranuch said. “It is expected to be higher than that of the previous year.”

BANGKOK LAND PRICES
RISES AVERAGE 4% THIS YEAR

Land prices in Bangkok have increased at an average of 4 per cent this year compared with the same period of last year, according to a survey by the Agency for Real Estate Affairs.
Siam Square saw large gains, with prices reaching Bt2.13 million per square wah, up 6.5 per cent from the same period of last year, the survey said.

FRESH ROUND OF TRADE
TALKS WITH PAKISTAN

Thailand will host a seventh round of talks with Pakistan on a bilateral free-trade agreement in Bangkok from today until Friday, the Department of Trade Negotiations said.
Both countries have agreed to wrap up the negotiations before the end of this year. A trade deal will pave the way for Thailand to penetrate deeper into the South Asian region as well as the Middle East, via Pakistan.
Pakistan will be able to use Thailand as a gateway to export more products to Asean markets.
Last year the trade between the two countries amounted to US$1.134 billion, up 9.8 per cent year on year.

BID DOCUMENTS RELEASED 
FOR BT7 BN RAIL PROJECT
 
The State Railway of Thailand yesterday released the bidding documents for the Hua Hin-Prachuab Kirikan double-track rail track project worth Bt7.305 billion, the state agency's acting governor Anont Luangboriboon said.
He said he expects the process will attract more than 10 prospective bidders, with a winner likely to be announced by late July.
The state agency yesterday held a public hearing on the terms of reference for the Nakorn Pathom-Hua Hin double-track project worth Bt15.850 billion.
It has also looked into the pricing for the Prachuab Kirikan-Chumpon double-track project.

Pace plans Bt3 bn debt issue after revenue jump
  PACE Development Corporation plans to issue debentures worth Bt3 billion to replace its short-term bills of exchange that will expire this year.
The company announced the move after reporting a 71 per cent jump in revenue to Bt2.49 billion for the first quarter of this year, from the year-earlier period. But Pace suffered a net loss of Bt575.6 million, against net profit of Bt67.54 million in the first quarter of last year.
Chief executive Sorapoj Techakraisri said that despite the net loss, the company has cash of more than Bt5 billion, resulting from an investment in the MahaNakhon project by funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management and Goldman Sachs. As a result, the company’s debt was reduced by about Bt3 billion.
The funds will be used to complete the Sky Observation Deck on the MahaNakhon tower, which is expected to be a popular tourist draw that will also provide the company with an ongoing revenue stream. 
  RS finance boss hails results amid slump
  RS has posted a 70 per cent jump in net profit to Bt47 million for the first quarter of this year, from the previous quarter. The company recorded Bt752 million in revenue, chief financial officer Darm Nana said.
Darm said the company continued to thrive even in the midst of a slump in the media industry. That success was partly due to its LifeStar subsidiary, said the finance chief, who described the company as an emerging leader in Thailand’s health and beauty industry. It has now become the company’s main business, he added.
RS is adapting its business model to become a consumer product and retail business, with its media business supporting the growth of its health and beauty arm. 
Darm said the company is confident it is on the right path and that it will reach its revenue goal of Bt3.5 billion this year.
In the first quarter, the company adjusted its plan to keep up with health and beauty trends.
 Asia-Pacific sees 3% rise in visitors for 2016
  The number of foreign visitors to 47 Asia-Pacific destinations rose 3 per cent last year, for an aggregate inbound count of almost 600 million, a report says.
Despite the challenges faced by Turkey's tourism sector, the country welcomed almost 18 million additional arrivals to its total foreign inbound count, year on year, PATA said in its annual travel monitor report. Seventeen of those destinations had double-digit growth rates ranging from 20 per cent for Mongolia, Japan and Vietnam to more than 30 per cent for Nepal and South Korea. But seven Asia-Pacific countries reported contractions in foreign arrivals in 2016 from 2015.
The strongest destination sub-regions for annual growth between 2015 and 2016 were South America, with an annual increase of 13 per cent, Oceania with a gain of 11 per cent and South Asia with 10 per cent growth. Across the three major regions of the Asia Pacific, Asia was the frontrunner for foreign arrivals by volume with 436 million international arrivals, followed by the Americas with 147 million and the Pacific with 24.5 million..
Intra-regional travel flows were extremely strong for Asia and the Americas with 94 per cent and 78 per cent, respectively, of their inbound volumes arising from within the same region. 
  Vantage Foods taps DKSH to boost market share
  Vantage Foods, a Thai manufacturer of biscuits and other snacks, has turned to DKSH, which calls itself a market-expansion services provider, to make its products more widely available in the country.
Vantage appointed DKSH Business Unit Consumer Goods – billed as “Asia’s leading market-expansion services provider for fast-moving consumer goods” – to handle marketing, sales, distribution and logistics for its V-Snack brand.
Vantage Foods, under parent firm VFoods, recently released a range of V-Snacks stick biscuits in what it described as traditional trade, modern trade and cash-van channels.