Salespersons wait for potential customers at a residential fair in Bangkok. The government has eased mortgage conditions to boost liquidity pending the passage of the 2020 budget bill. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Second-home buyers will find it easier to borrow, SMEs will get tax refunds sooner and foreign reserves will be prudently invested overseas.
These are among the latest batch of stimulus measures to battle worse-than-expected impacts of the world economy, according to economic ministers.
Kobsak Pootrakul, secretary-general to economic ministers, said Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak called a meeting with concerned authorities at the Finance Ministry on Monday morning to discuss measures to boost liquidity and stabilise the baht since the impacts of the global economic slowdown on the local economy were “beyond expectation”.
“The meeting was held because the global economy affects the Thai economy more than expected. Pending the 2020 budget, additional money has not been injected into the economy. We must boost liquidity to support the economy,” Mr Kobsak said.
According to him, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) will adjust its loan-to-value ratio so banks can lend more to buyers of first and second homes and stimulate the property sector as a result. The ratio sets the proportion of lending and down payments to prevent bad loans.
Effective on Monday, the Bank of Thailand will allow buyers of first homes worth less than 10 million baht each to borrow an extra 10% for furniture, Ronadol Numnonda told a briefing.
Buyers of second houses worth less than 10 million baht will be allowed to make a down payment of 10% if the mortgage on the first home has been paid off for at least two years, versus three years required earlier, otherwise a 20% downpayment will still apply.
Besides, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid ordered specialised financial institutions — state banks set up for particular purposes such as Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives — to relieve interest burdens for small and medium-sized enterprises while the Finance Ministry will speed up tax refunds for them.
To stabilise the baht, the Office of the Insurance Commission will allow life insurance companies to prudently invest abroad while the Export-Import Bank of Thailand will issue measures to support local operators in investing in other countries or import machinery to improve production.
The measures should boost the outflow of the baht, Mr Kobsak said.
Besides, the central bank was assigned to invest foreign exchange reserves in assets as long as the investments are legal and carry acceptable risks, he said. According to Bank of Thailand data, the reserves stood at $224.3 billion as of the end of 2019, ranking 12th in the world.
“The measures will be implemented for a few months before being reviewed. It will take quite some time for world economic problems to be resolved. The government will come up with more measures,” Mr Kobsak said.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
