BANGKOK (NNT) – The Ministry of Commerce has continuously reduced commodity prices, to help reduce Thai citizens’ cost of living during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Mr. Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce said the commodity price reductions are a form of continuous aid from the ministry, in collaboration with major manufacturers and wholesalers, which the ministry launched on 16th of April.
The price reductions will help to control people’s costs of living during the outbreak.
This 2nd round of price reductions continues to focus mainly on 6 groups of basic necessities, comprising food and drink, frozen food, condiments, daily necessities, sanitary goods and household care products. 72 items have been added to the lis, extending it to 3,025 items with up to 68 percent discounts.
The price reductions are available from now until June 30, 2020.
People can find discounted items at 13 retail stores, including Big C, Tesco Lotus, Makro, Foodland, CJ Express, Lawson, CP All, The Mall, Max Value, Tops, Gourmet Market, Home Fresh Mart and Family Mart.
A comprehensive new survey of consumers in China’s first-tier cities has concluded that 53% of respondents would like to travel overseas within 2020.
Moreover 71% of those surveyed said they would like to travel to Thailand, with an interesting shift in the data : 83% or the respondents said they would rather choose independent travel versus group tours.
Thailand’s economy’s is highly dependent on Chinese tourism with nearly 11 million Chinese tourists coming to Thailand in 2019.
More than a quarter of inbound arrivals to Thailand are Chinese, and their spending is crucial for the Thai economy : the drop in Chinese tourist numbers from January to April alone could cost the Thai economy $3.05 billion, according to The Tourism Authority of Thailand.
But the Coronavirus crisis is keeping Thailand’s top vacation spenders away with a 95% decline in Chinese visitors in the first quarter of 2020.
Thailand has effectively closed its doors to non-resident foreigners under a state of emergency that came into force on March 26, bringing down tourist entries close to nil.
Data released by the Bank of Thailand shows that tourism is now down from 100 000 to just 1,800 daily entries.
Chinese Tourists Travel Preferences
Key Takeaway Points
• Most popular Thai destinations Chinese travellers want to visit in order of popularity are Bangkok, Phuket,…
CHIANG MAI (NNT) – The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment has offered his moral support to firefighters at Doi Inthanon, urging the officials to communicate with villagers about the consequences of forest burning.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Warawut Silpa-archa, led a team to Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai, where he met national park officials, community leaders, volunteers and forest firefighters.
Minister Warawut has expressed his encouragement and appreciation to the officials, and delivered food supply through community leaders.
The visiting officials received a briefing on forest fires on Doi Inthanon, where the main causes are hunting and foraging, conflicts and farmland expansion.
The Minister urged the officials to communicate with villagers on the consequences of forest burning, as he believes villagers should cherish the forest close to which they live.
He has than asked national park officials to renovate tourism attractions to welcome visitors, when travel is allowed to resume after the COVID-19 crisis, as well as manage occupational lands for villagers to prevent encroaching further into the forest.
5,000 Baht Cash Subsidy To Be Transferred To Additional 700,000...
BANGKOK(NNT) – The Ministry of Finance has closed registrations for the 5,000-baht cash subsidy on เราไม่ทิ้งกัน.com. More than 28.8 million people registered.
Mr Lawaron Saengsanit, Director of the Fiscal Policy Office, as spokesman of the Ministry of Finance, said the Ministry of Finance will speed up the information verification process and if the people registered meet the criteria, the Ministry of Finance will transfer the cash subsidy to their registered bank account as soon as possible. He has confirmed that the Ministry of Finance has not specified the number of eligible people and all those who meet the criteria will receive the financial assistance.
The Ministry of Finance has asked for additional information from 6.3 million people and 4.8 million people have already submitted additional information. The Ministry of Finance has asked about 1.5 million people to submit the information quickly to expedite the result, and receive assistance in a timely manner. The 10 million people who didn’t meet the criteria, can submit an appeal relating to the 5,000-baht cash subsidy on www.เราไม่ทิ้งกัน.com.
The subsidy has already been transferred to the bank accounts of the first batch of 4.2 million people. Today, the Ministry of Finance will transfer the subsidy to another 700,000 people including 500,000 people who have already submitted additional information and 200,000 people who submitted an appeal relating to the 5,000-baht cash subsidy and met the criteria.
Government’s 5,000 Baht Cash Relief Extended To 14 Million People
BANGKOK (NNT) – There has been strong criticism of the government’s 3-month 5,000 baht monthly compensation scheme, in regard to the campaign’s criteria for eligibility.
The Cabinet has now approved an extension of the campaign to cover more people affected by the COVID-19 disruption, now totalling about 14 million persons.
The Ministry of Finance yesterday reported in the Cabinet’s meeting that registrations in this compensation campaign have seen 27.76 persons register from 28th March to 16th April, a number much higher than expected.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has received complaints from some rejected registrants whose listed occupational information was inaccurate, particularly those listed as farmers while in fact their main occupations are general employees, laborers, or freelancers.
The Ministry of Finance will be extending the campaign to cover these people, who will however, no longer receive any other COVID-19 related aid packages offered through farmers’ groups or cooperatives should they apply under those schemes.
Additionally, registrants who have been rejected because the system recognized their occupation as student, but who are actually part-time students while mainly working at full-time or freelance jobs, will also be covered.
This extension of the campaign raises the number of eligible persons from 9 million to 14 million.
Gsb Launches Measures To Help Loan Customers Affected By Covid 19
BANGKOK(NNT) – State-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) is offering assistance to its loan customers, who have been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, by suspending principal and interest payments for six months.
The GSB President, Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, said today the suspension of loan payments is now extended from three months to six months, without imposing a limit to the remaining principal balance. Concerning loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the credit limit has been raised from 20 million baht to no more than 100 million baht. The new measures are effective immediately, and customer registration is not required.
All home loan customers with a remaining principal balance of up to 3 million baht are eligible for these benefits. But if they don’t wish to have GSB suspend their loan repayments or would like to pay on certain months, they can contact the bank. GSB offers its customers flexible payment options and their status remains normal. The bank also provides assistance to debtors, who have been prosecuted, on a case-by-case basis.
Concerning loan interest during the six-month period, GSB customers can choose to pay after the period of grace or at the end of their contracts. Following the six-month period, they can pay the remaining principal first in accordance with the bank’s terms and conditions. If they are not able to make payments, they can enter a two-year loan suspension measure, as the bank previously announced.
Tat London Office Launches “stay At Home Thai Style” To
Bangkok, 21 April, 2020, at 12.30 Hrs. – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) London Office has launched a series of “Stay at Home Thai Style’ videos and games to give Brits a taste of Thailand while they cannot travel to the ‘Land of Smiles’.
TAT London Office Director, Ms. Chiravadee Khunsub, said, “Our wish is to give Brits something to do to help their mental health and well-being during lockdown while providing them new skills to learn or games to play. It’s something all the family can get involved with.
“Whether you’ve been to Thailand or not, this is a great way to immerse yourself in a taste of Thai culture. Maybe, we’ll inspire a new wave of Thai boxing enthusiasts or budding Thai chefs!”
Stay at Home Thai Style
Launching on 20 April, 2020, a new video or game will be added over the week via the https://fanclubthailand.co.uk/ website, or Instagram: fanclubthailand, or Facebook: fanclubthailand.
Each day will focus on a unique aspect of Thai culture. From a tasty Thai cooking class, relaxing wellness videos, to a high energy Muay Thai boxing workout, these will include:
Monday: Stretch! Posture & Alignment (video) with Kamalaya Koh Samui and Healing Holidays
Tuesday: Thai Crossword (game)
Wednesday: Tone Up! Pilates inspired full body workout (video) with Kamalaya Koh Samui and Healing Holidays
Thursday: Learn to talk Thai (pdf) with useful holiday phrases
Friday: Muay Thai Boxing workout (video) with Semtex Gym and Muay Thai Holidays
Saturday: Thai Cooking Class (video) with Katathani Collection
Become a Thai MasterChef at Home with Yui Miles
The TAT London Office has also teamed up with Ms. Yui Miles, Masterchef 2019 quarterfinalist, to launch a “Become a Thai MasterChef at Home with Yui Miles” competition (more details at https://fanclubthailand.co.uk/become-a-thai-masterchef-at-home-with-yui-miles/).
Opened on 17 April, 2020, and closing at midnight on 8 May, 2020, the competition offers the chance to win a private Thai cooking lesson with Chef Yui, including all the ingredients, a case of Chang beer and three bottles of Monsoon Valley wine. Runners up will receive a delivery of Chang beer or Monsoon Valley wine.
“Of course, there is no better way to experience Thailand than visiting our amazing country, and we can’t wait to open our doors again to the millions of Brits who visit each year. We remain at disposal to our trade partners during this difficult time and look forward to supporting business to Thailand when the time is right, Ms. Chiravadee concluded.
The post TAT London Office launches “Stay at Home Thai Style” to give Brits a taste of Thailand appeared first on TAT Newsroom.
Asia Pacific commercial real estate investment volume fell to US$22.6 billion in Q1 2020, representing a decline of 23% y-o-y* and marking the lowest quarterly total in almost three years, according to the latest data from CBRE.
Turnover in the office (US$14 billion, up 2.5% y-o-y) and industrial (US$3.6 billion, down 4% y-o-y) sectors was firm but a sharp decline in retail deals (US$2.5 billion, down 45.8% y-o-y) combined with a fall in hotel investment (US$2.2 billion, down 14.3% y-o-y) pulled down overall transaction volume.
With the COVID-19 outbreak erupting in late January and continuing to impact economic activity in key markets across the region, the decline in transaction volume was widely expected as investors moved into wait-and-see mode, delayed investment decisions and site inspections, and other phases of the deal process were disrupted.
Transactions in China fell 32% and 72% in Hong Kong
Transaction volume in Mainland China fell 32% y-o-y to US$7.3 billion as investment activity weakened substantially from late-January following the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. While several large deals were completed earlier in the year, these had all been under negotiation since the second half of 2019.
In Hong Kong SAR, transaction volume reached just US$963 million, a decline of 72% y-o-y and the second lowest quarterly total since Q2 2009. Fewer than 20 deals were completed during the quarter, all by local capital.
Fewer than 20 deals were completed in Hong Kong during the first quarter
Other downbeat markets included Singapore, where investment volume fell 30% y-o-y to US$975 million, a figure that is expected to decline further in the coming quarters amid local stock market volatility and the implementation of a lockdown for…
