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First 10,000 smart cards issued to govt officials and ‘lucky’ citizens
The Ministry of Interior’s Department of Provincial
Administration has issued the first 10,000 multi-purpose identity cards, or
smart cards, to government officials, including cabinet members, as a pilot
project at an event held at the Impact Arena Trade Exhibition Centre in
Muang Thong Thani of Bangkok’s suburban province of Nonthaburi.
The first 10,000 smart cards were issued at the four-day
event based on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.
The Interior Ministry particularly invited civil servants
to take the right to mark the Civil Servants’ Day, which fell on April 1.
About 2,000 general identity card holders, aged 15-70,
who registered at the [www.khonthai.com] website were also randomly selected
to be included in the first 10,000 Thai citizens receiving the smart cards.
Those who were informed of being selected as one of the
first 10,000 smart card holders received their smart cards at the four-day
event, or left the right to others.
However, Information and Communications Technology
Minister Surapong Suebwonglee announced late last month that the first phase
of the government’s ‘smart card’ project would have to face about a
one month delay, as the government decided to open new bidding for firms
wanting to apply to be an authorized producer and developer of the
country’s multi-purpose identity cards.
M.D. Surapong said that the Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology had scrapped the old bidding, and would open new
bidding after the former authorized company failed to offer a cheaper
production cost of the first 12 million smart cards.
The decision would result in about one-month delay of the
government’s planned issuance of the smart cards to the general public, he
stated.
The government earlier planned to issue the first-phase
12 million smart cards to Thai citizens, excluding the first 10,000 under
the pilot project, in April.
Last month, the cabinet also approved a total budget of
over Bt7.9 billion to support the Ministry of Information and Communications
Technology’s smart card project.
The earmarked Bt7.910 billion budget is to be used for
producing and managing the distribution of 64 million smart cards to all
Thai citizens.
The smart card scheme is divided into three phases.
In the first phase, supported by a budget of Bt1.670
billion from this 2004 fiscal year, 12 million smart cards are to be
produced.
In the second phase, backed by another budget of Bt3.120
billion in the 2005 fiscal year, 26 million more smart cards will be
produced.
And in the third phase, backed by another budget of
Bt3.120 billion, the rest of the 26 million smart cards are to be produced.
The government will also accelerate the issuance of new
legislation to protect holders of the smart cards regarding access to their
reserved information. (TNA)
Firms in REHABCO likely to be back in normal sector in 2006
Listed companies in the rehabilitation sector (REHABCO)
are likely to be transferred back to the normal sector as a whole within the
first quarter of 2006, according to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
SET’s President Kittirat Na Ranong said 95 companies
had been transferred to REHABCO since January 5, 1998 because their
financial positions had been adversely affected by the country’s economic
crisis. These companies had undergone the debt restructuring during
1998-2003, but the process had been so slow that 29 firms were delisted
under duress and on a voluntary basis, he disclosed.
As Kittirat explained, only nine had successfully managed
to rehabilitate their business in that period, and had moved back to the
normal sector. Still, performances of the companies in REHABCO have
significantly improved since last year as a result of the economic recovery.
Up to 10 firms received approval by SET to be transferred
back to the normal sector, as their qualifications met its criteria. Now,
there are only 44 companies in REHABCO.
Kittirat said the number was expected to continue to drop
now that the country’s economy is sustaining growth, and SET came up with
measures to facilitate the debt-restructuring and rehabilitation process.
Sarayuth Booncharoen, senior vice president of SET in
charge of supervising the debt restructuring of listed companies, said SET
expects to see around 15 firms in REHABCO be transferred back to be traded
in the normal sector within this year. He said SET would closely monitor the
performance of the remaining companies in REHABCO, and would review a
progress in their rehabilitation process every six months. In the first
quarter of this year, he said, there were a few companies whose performances
remained of concern. (TNA)
Thailand rushes to breed cows as demand for milk soars
A few decades ago, milk was almost unheard of as part of
the Thai diet, but today demand for milk is rising so fast that the Thai
Organization for the Promotion of Milk Cows is rushing through a mass
program of artificial insemination in the hope of boosting supply.
According to Dr. Phiphob Jarikphakorn, head of the
organization’s Office of Milk Cow Promotion, the organization is heavily
promoting milk cow farming in 21 provinces under its jurisdiction.
This year the organization aims to artificially
inseminate around 57,000 cows to meet the demand of the domestic raw milk
market, which is expected to soar to at least 3 billion baht by next year.
The organization is also encouraging milk cow farms to
meet the quality standards laid down by the Department of Livestock
Development, which will lead to safer, better quality products and help
boost consumer confidence.
Thailand currently imports large quantities of milk from
countries such as New Zealand in order to meet domestic demand. (TNA)
IMF: Asian economic outlook is bright
With the global economic expansion strengthening and
deepening, the near-term prospects for Asia look good, David Burton,
Director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), said in a recent interview with IMF Survey magazine. He
predicted that growth of the whole of Asia, except for Japan, could reach 7%
this year.
Burton stated that although the avian flu in the first
quarter of this year triggered great losses for a number of economies, the
risk was quickly driven back. There were reasons to be optimistic about
Asian economic outlook, Burton noted, citing China’s growing demand for
imported commodities, including raw materials which had created a momentum
to spur business and production activities in other countries.
“However, for a strongly sustainable growth rate, Asian
economies, especially China, need an orderly adjustment of global current
account imbalances, and must manage the transition to higher interest rates
globally”, the IMF official said.
He stressed that China would need to strike the right
balance between preventing overheating, and avoiding an unduly sharp cutback
in investment.
The IMF has supported initiatives of ASEAN + 3 (China,
the Republic of Korea, and Japan), saying that these initiatives can
potentially strengthen growth and financial stability in the region.
However, the IMF official held that ASEAN + 3 macroeconomic impact had so
far been relatively modest. “Therefore, Asia needs to maintain an
outward-looking focus, and not see these initiatives as substitutes for
broader integration into the global economy,” Burton suggested. (TNA)
UN ranks Thailand 4th in global investment ratings
Thailand’s business community is celebrating as news
emerged on April 17 that the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) had ranked Thailand as the fourth most attractive
investment destination in the world, a move which the Thai Chamber of Commerce
and the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said would help boost investors’
confidence in Thailand’s burgeoning economy.
The UNCTAD report, published on 14 April, names Thailand as
the fourth most desirable investment ‘hotspot’ after China, India and the
United States.
Describing the report as a ‘boost in Thailand’s
rating’, FTI President Praphad Phodhivorakhun said that it would boost
Thailand’s standing in the eyes of foreign investors. He called on the
government to seize the opportunity offered by the report to publicize
Thailand’s investment opportunities through a series of foreign road shows,
expressing confidence that the level of foreign investment in Thailand was now
set to rise.
Despite the economic recession of the 1990s, Thailand has
already emerged as Southeast Asia’s economic powerhouse, with economic
growth second only to China. Unlike other countries in the region, such as
Indonesia and the Philippines, it is not plagued by internal political
problems, while its geographical position in the center of the region makes it
an attractive prospect for investors eyeing up emergent economies such as
Cambodia and Laos.
The report was also greeted with enthusiasm by Deputy FTI
President Kiertiphong Noijaiboon, who said, “In the future I am confident
that Thailand will overtake China, as all countries now perceive China as a
competitor. Thailand is ready in terms of infrastructure, low labor costs and
internal stability”.
Kiertiphong said that investment focus was likely to center
on the automobile industry, with Thailand now emerging as the ‘Detroit of
Asia’. This, in turn, helped drive other industries, such as plastics,
chemicals and rubber.
At the same time, he predicted, the food and clothing
industries were also likely to attract foreign investor interest, thanks to
heavy promotion by the government through campaigns such as the Global Kitchen
Project and the Bangkok Fashion City Scheme. His optimism over the report was
echoed by Wirot Amatakulachai, deputy chairman of the Thai Chamber of
Commerce, who forecast that the publication of the report would see an influx
of foreign investment. He noted that Thailand presented a particularly
attractive investment proposition compared to other economically powerful
countries in the region due to its low administrative costs, which meant that
returns on investment could be realized within a short time.
Ajva Taulanada, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce,
went even further, expressing surprise that Thailand had not been ranked
higher. In comparison with other countries, Thailand was the world’s most
attractive investment location, he said, adding that it was now vital that
Thailand worked to maintain economic growth of 7-9 percent. (TNA)
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