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John Thomson to head sales, marketing and after sales of Chevrolet Sales Thailand
Chevrolet Sales Thailand announced that John D. Thomson
has been appointed vice president for sales, marketing and after sales of
Chevrolet Sales (Thailand) Ltd.
 John
Thomson
“John has more than 20 years experience in sales
promotion, marketing, strategic planning and service development programs
for GM’s brands. We are confident that he will continue in developing
Chevrolet in a unique automotive market like Thailand,” said General
Motors Thailand and Chevrolet Sales Thailand’s president and managing
director, William S. Botwick.
Thomson began his career with GM at Buick Division in
the customer service department in 1981. He held various management
positions between 1981 and 1987 before being assigned to Buick’s home
office in Flint, Michigan as a brand analyst on the Century/Regal brand
team. In 1990, he moved to the corporate merchandising and marketing staff
managing GM’s Smart-lease program. Between 1993 and 2002, he held
various field sales positions, most recently, as the market area manager -
north central region for vehicles sales, service and marketing of GM
Corporation.
Thomson has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial
Technology from Montclair State University, New Jersey and an MBA from
Central Michigan University.
IMF revises Thailand’s economic growth estimate upwards
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its
estimate of Thailand’s economic growth this year upwards to 3.2% from
2.7%, saying the expansion was boosted by positive internal and external
factors.
Alexander Sanello, chief of IMF’s working group in
Asia-Pacific, said IMF has raised the economic growth projection because
the external environment improved and local consumption increased.
However, IMF remains concerned about consumer loan
risks, which could affect the target growth of the country’s economy.
Sanello said IMF understands the Thai government’s efforts to solve the
country’s economic problems and stimulate the economy at a grass-roots
level.
Still, IMF would like to see the government put money
spent on bailing out the economy into the formal budget so it can be
examined in a transparent manner.
IMF views the financial policy adopted by the
government as suitable to the current economic environment. The policies
should encourage economic growth since inflation rates remain low. The
low-interest policy adopted by the Bank of Thailand will also help
stimulate local consumption.
Non-performing loans have continued to ease, but IMF
remains concerned about the re-entry of NPLs, particularly in the
financial institution system. Sanello said the NPLs have eased as a result
of the Thai Asset Management Corporation’s successful efforts to
accelerate the debt-restructuring process in the first quarter of this
year. (TNA)
DPM sure privatization of AAT, TOT, CAT will proceed as scheduled
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has expressed
confidence the privatization of the Airports Authority of Thailand,
Telephone Organization of Thailand, and Communications Authority of
Thailand will be completed by this year. He said he held discussions with
Transport and Communications Minister Wanmuhamadnoor Matha and AAT’s
Board on the privatization of the Authorities.
It was concluded the change of AAT into a public
company will go before the cabinet this month. To this end, 30% of total
shares of the new company will be offered to the public in October or
November this year.
As for TOT and CAT, the privatization of the two
Authorities will proceed separately in offering their shares to the public
and listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
State-owned banks, including Krung Thai, Bank Thai, and
Siam City, will be also privatized. If possible, Somkid said, Siam City
will offer shares to the public (sometime) this year.
Regarding Thai Airways International, the selection of
chairman of the board must be finalized before more shares are offered to
the public late this year.
Somkid sees the planned privatization of state
enterprises this year as pretty much in place. The remaining ones will be
privatized as scheduled.
“People who have savings in banks can opt to buy
shares of the privatized state enterprises for investment and bring
another portion of savings to invest in government bonds if they want to
distribute investment. It is expected the local liquidity will improve in
the middle of this year because people have more choices for
investment,” he said. (TNA)
PM invites Australian businessmen to invest in Thailand
During his recent visit to Australia, Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra expressed confidence the Thai economy will grow at the
rate of 3.6%, or double that of last year, and invited Australian
businessmen to take the opportunity to invest in Thailand.
On the last day of his trip the premier had breakfast
with Australian businessmen. Then, he joined a lunch party hosted by the
Australia-Thailand Business Council (ATBC). On this occasion, Thaksin
delivered a speech on “Thai Economy and Government’s Economic
Policy” at the party attended by around 2,000 Thai and Australian
businessmen.
Thaksin said ATBC is considered one of the key
organizations which help strengthen bilateral relations of the two
countries. In the past 15 months he said his government has endeavored to
rehabilitate the ailing economy through three key policies. These included
stimulating domestic growth, managing debts, and restructuring the economy
to enhance competitiveness. The three policies are correlated.
The Premier imparted his desire to encourage closer
economic partnerships that stem from a joint study that was made as part
of the establishment of the Thailand-Australia free trade area.
The two countries have common industries that could
support each other. They include automobiles, clothing and textiles, and
agriculture. These industries have potential for growth in the next 20
years. He said Thailand is considered a regional economic hub with a
strong agricultural base, skilled labor, a stable consumer base, and
export variety.
The Premier added that Thailand is politically stable
and that stability will help boost confidence among investors. Therefore
there is a good opportunity for Australia and Thailand to enhance their
partnerships for the prosperity of both countries. (TNA)
MOC brushes aside concern over current account deficit
The account deficit in April should not be a cause for
concern because most imports are capital goods, not luxury items, Deputy
Commerce Minister Suvarn Valaisathien stated at the latest cabinet
meeting.
He said he clarified for the cabinet that there has
been a deficit since 1997, and it is caused by the import of capital
products. Of total products imported April, 40% were raw materials used to
produce for export, 30% was machinery, and 10% was energy and
petroleum-related products.
He said Thailand has not imported machinery for many
years, therefore the import of some products at this time should not be
regarded as unusual. However, he said, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
wants the Ministry to closely monitor the situation.
The Premier wants Thai exporters use more local content
in production and try to open new markets for exports because existing
main export destinations including Japan and the United States are still
experiencing economic slowdown.
Suvarn said he saw a need for Thailand to promote
intra-ASEAN trade because it could increase mutual trade among member
countries by as much as 20%. He also feels it is necessary for Thailand to
expand export markets to Bahrain because the country is the gateway to
other countries in Middle East.
A group of Bahraini businessmen will visit Thailand
this month to explore trade and investment opportunities. He added
Thailand must accelerate its build-up in trade relations with other Middle
East countries in order to expand its markets. (TNA)
BOT denies it plans to issue banknotes to repay FIDF’s debts
Bank of Thailand’s Governor M.R. Pridiyathorn
Devakula has denied the central bank plans to issue new banknotes to ease
huge debt burdens borne by the Financial Institution Development Fund as
some media has reported.
He said the reports that BOT would issue banknotes to
liquidate debts totaling more than 800 billion baht obligated by FIDF were
totally groundless.
The central bank has never made any statement saying it
would come up with such a monetary measure to solve the debt problem of
FIDF. He said the problem must be addressed by counting on real revenue,
not the issuing of banknotes.
He added the measure to tackle the problem has been
almost completely worked out and is likely to be disclosed to the public
by this month.
“I would like to clarify that I never said the bank
will issue banknotes to solve the country’s debt problem. The country
will lose credibility if that option is adopted.”
As of March 31, FIDF’s debts totaled 614.57 billion
baht while assets stood at 379.55 billion. (TNA)
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