Business Day News,Thailand Business News,Press Release News, Finance,Forex,Stock,Economy,Politics,Energy,Bank News » Bangkok Bank

Bangkok Bank foresees 4-5% econ expansion

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:53:02 +0000

BANGKOK, 11 March 2010 (NNT) – Bangkok Bank says the Thai economy is likely to expand by 4-5% due to recovery, asking the Bank of Thailand (BoT) to adjust the policy interest rate in line with the national economy.

Speaking about the direction of the Thai economy this year, Bangkok Bank President Chatsiri Sophonpanich forecast that the better global economy has helped the Thai export sector grow since the beginning of 2010.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Bank Board of Executive Directors Chairperson Kosit Panpiemras admitted that the bank was worried about the policy interest rate, which had been kept low for a long time. He said this would affect national savings.

The chairperson explained that the decision to peg the policy interest rate at 1.25% could not help boost the economy much. He said the national economy had returned to the normal level, especially in the tourism sector.

Bangkok Bank to resume its normal operation tomorrow

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:56:30 +0000

BANGKOK, 1 March 2010 (NNT) – Bangkok Bank will resume its normal operation tomorrow.

A source today reported full security at the Bangkok Bank’s main Silom branch, which was recently attecked by a hand grenede. Fifty security officers have relaid shifts to prevent other unrest, while other branches across the country were instrusted to adopt full security measures.

Hand grenede incidents recently took place at four branches of Bangkok Bank a day after the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions seized 46.37 billion baht of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s assets.

Bangkok Bank has coordinated with police to pay serious attention at the minor explosion areas in prevention of other attacks. All breakages at the bank buildings are fixed and ready to resume services tomorrow.

Aim for more productive capacity, rely less on exporting

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:40:37 +0000

BANGKOK, 4 September 2009 (NNT) – Kosit Panpiemras, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Bangkok Bank, indicated that Thailand should no longer rely on export and suggested that private agencies develop their productive capacity instead of importing for their sustainable capacity.

Mr. Kosit stated that the current economic crisis yielded more damage than the one in 1997. He said countries perceived the occurrence of this crisis on time and had launched measures to rehabilitate the economy. Mr. Kosit said the attempts to solve the problems were on the right track but noted that whether the economy would completely recover was still uncertain. In terms of the Thai economy, he suggested that the public and private agencies cooperate in developing the country’s productive capacity in order to reduce imports and propel economic growth.

He also believed that the government’s “Strong Thailand” scheme would be able to boost the Thai economy if the money was allocated effectively.

Bangkok Bank: Thai economy starts U-shape recovery

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:38:15 +0000

BANGKOK, 3 September 2009 (NNT) – Bangkok Bank has estimated that in the last quarter, the country’s economy will start a U-curve recovery mainly resulting from increasing public investments.

Executive Vice President and Director of Research Department, Bangkok Bank, Dr. Piyaphan Thayanithi revealed the estimation of the country’s expanding economy saying even though the economy in the current quarter contracted to 2.8-3.6% (yoy), it would grow in the fourth quarter and continue to increase by 2.0-4.0 % (yoy) next year.

He reasoned that the public investments which are expected to rise by 6-10% (yoy) next year would be the main driving force. Other factors contributed to the growth included the recovery of private consumption, private investment and export volume which is expected to grow up by 0.5-2.5%, 3.0-8.5% and 5.2-10.2% respectively.

With the recovery of domestic demand and the export industry combined with the global surge of oil and consumer product prices the import volume was expected to expand by 16.3-22.9% in 2010. The higher development brought about the 2.1-3.3 billion USD drop of favorable balance of trade and 3.2-4.0% billion USD drop of current account surplus.

There are still several factors, both positive and negative which are affecting the upcoming year’s economy. The positive factors included the upturn of important industrial product productions, mounting employment, expanding personal cash of financial institutions both for home mortgage and credit card and constant public investments.

The negative signs influencing the economy comprised the unpredictable resurgence of powerful countries’ economy, the slow recovery of some industrial product productions, risk of foreign capital inflow, soaring imports of capital goods and raw materials, overall low level of interest rate, ambiguous trend of private sector investment, declining revenue and numbers of tourists and the slow recovery of rice prices.

Dr. Piyaphan also added that the uncertainties of oil prices and natural disasters would be the other main factors impacting the country’s economy next year.

Bangkok Bank’s Kosit sees Thailand’s exports plunging over 10%

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:10:12 +0000

BANGKOK, July 25 (TNA) — Kosit Panpiemras, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Bangkok Bank, Thailand’s largest commercial bank, predicts that Thailand’s exports in 2009 would plunge more than 10 per cent, more than projection made by the Commerce Ministry.

Mr. Kosit, a former finance minister and former deputy prime minister, said although he believed the fall in the country’s exports had hit bottom, the Bank of Thailand should control the baht to move “at an appropriate level” or almost at the same level with other currencies.

However, he said it is difficult to control currency exchange because the US dollar continues to weaken.

Bank of Thailand deputy governor Atchana Waiquamdee echoed his views, saying that both the export and service sectors would continue to decline in line with weakening world trade and falling tourism revenue due to the current spread of the A(H1N1) virus.

Mrs. Atchana said country’s exports are expected to start recovering from late 2009 until next year.

The central bank, she said, projects that exports will drop 9.5-22.5 per cent in 2009 and would grow around 14.5-17.5 per cent in 2010. (TNA)

BoT confident of Thai banks strength, despite possible Moody’s downgrade

Wed, 27 May 2009 18:12:52 +0000

BANGKOK, May 27 (TNA) – Thailand’s commercial banks still enjoy stable financial positions despite a likely move by Moody’s Investors Service to place the debt and deposit ratings of 11 domestic banks in Thailand on review for possible downgrade, but it will not affect them negatively, Bank of Thailand (BoT) deputy governor Atchana Waiquamdee said on Wednesday.

Commercial banks in Thailand have a very solid positions as the capital adequacy ratio required by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) standard is as high as 14.5-15 per cent, Mrs. Atchana said.

Also, governmental assistance remains significant with the public debt now amounting to 40 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), which she held as not high when compared to other countries sharing the same credit ratings with Thailand.

Even if public debt rises to 60 per cent of GDP in the next few years, the country would not be affected due to its sound financial position, Mrs. Atchana said.

Her comments were made after Moody’s earlier in the day issued a press release saying that it would review for possible downgrade 11 banks in Thailand, including Bangkok Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Government Housing Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam City Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Thailand, TMB Bank and the United Overseas Bank Thailand.

“The review of their debt and deposit ratings will look at the extent to which Thailand’s ability to provide support to its banking system, if needed, is converging with the government’s own debt capacity as a result of the ongoing global economic and credit crisis,” says Karolyn Seet, a Moody’s Assistant Vice President and Analyst.

“Moody’s believes that most governments are at least as likely, if not more likely, to support their banking systems as they are to service their own debt — a view that has traditionally led to bank ratings often benefiting from significant uplift due to systemic support,” says Ms. Seet.

Factors that Moody’s will consider in its assessment of systemic support include the size of the banking system in relation to government resources, the level of stress in the banking system, the foreign currency obligations of the banking systems relative to the government’s own foreign exchange resources, and changes to the government’s political patterns and priorities. (TNA)