Thailand

A Thai business group on Thursday urged Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to negotiate with the United States and consider lowering import taxes on U.S. goods, as the government met with the private sector to discuss U.S. trade policy, Reuters reported. The meeting comes ahead of a deadline U.S. President Donald Trump has set next month for federal agencies to complete comprehensive reviews of a range of trade issues, including analyses of persistent U.S. trade deficits.

Thailand is in early discussions with carmakers to introduce a car trade-in and scrapping scheme in a bid to revive an industry hit by its biggest crisis in decades, three industry officials and two sources said, Reuters reported. Output in the Southeast Asian automobile hub, besieged by a flood of new EVs, has plummeted for more than a year, following a slowdown in exports and weak domestic sales, while tighter credit at a time of soaring household debt hit vehicle buying.

Thailand’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate amid global uncertainties and concerns about their potential impact on the Southeast Asian economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy committee announced Wednesday that it voted six to one to cut the policy rate to 2.00% from 2.25%.

Tens of thousands of people could be living inside illegal scam compounds in Myanmar that have proliferated near Thailand’s border, according to the head of Thailand’s anti-trafficking agency, who warned it could take months before all foreign nationals are repatriated, The Guardian reported. Thailand has launched a major crackdown on scam compounds over recent weeks, cutting off cross-border electricity and fuel supplies.

Five years after Thai Airways International Pcl filed for bankruptcy protection, the state-controlled carrier’s court-appointed debt administrator Piyasvasti Amranand is planning an aggressive international expansion, Bloomberg News reported. Called out of semi-retirement in 2020 by Thailand’s then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, Piyasvasti was asked to take the controls of the airline and devise a rescue after the carrier had posted losses every year from 2013.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) is set to introduce a new trading platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) that will enable securities firms to trade digital tokens, CoinMarketCap.com reported. This initiative aims to enhance the efficiency of the capital market by promoting an electronic securities ecosystem. Jomkwan Kongsakul, the deputy secretary-general of the Thai SEC, stated that the demand for token investments is increasing.

Thailand transferred about US$890 million to its senior citizens on Monday (Jan 27), part of a government programme to tackle the high cost of living and stimulate the nations’ sluggish economy, Bloomberg News reported. More than 3 million senior citizens were given 10,000 baht each (S$399), and the dole out will boost the country’s US$500 billion economy, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said. The government will continue the cash stimulus programme, she said without elaborating.

Thailand’s domestic automobile sales slumped to the lowest in 15 years, denting its reputation as the “Detroit of Asia,” as demand was squeezed by stricter bank-loan approvals and high household debt, Bloomberg News reported. Domestic sales declined 26% to 572,675 units last year, a figure not seen since 2009, Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman of the automobile industry group at the Federation of Thai Industries, told a briefing Tuesday. Sales dropped 21% in December from a year earlier to 54,016 units.

Thailand may permit Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) to list on local exchanges for the first time as the country vies to nurture a digital-assets hub, Bloomberg News reported. The securities and exchange commission is considering allowing individuals and institutions to invest in local Bitcoin ETFs, secretary-general Pornanong Budsaratragoon said. Thailand’s One Asset Management launched a fund-of-funds offering exposure to overseas Bitcoin ETFs in June 2024, but the country hasn’t yet given the green light to vehicles that invest directly in the original cryptocurrency.

Thailand’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady in a widely expected move as inflation remains low and the economy has yet to show firm signs of recovery, the Wall Street Journal reported. With the Thai economy facing headwinds from intensified external competition and higher uncertainty, the Bank of Thailand said Wednesday that its policy committee voted unanimously to maintain its policy rate at 2.25%. Seven economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the central bank to stand pat.