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Thai bourse to miss expansion target as economy slows – The Telegram

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By Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s stock market will not reach its goal to expand by nearly 50% from current levels by 2023, its president said on Thursday, as the country’s economic slowdown is hurting share prices.

The Thai exchange took the top spot for new listings in Southeast Asia in 2019, with companies raising $4 billion according to Refinitiv data.

A number of big issues are also in the pipeline for this year, including Central Retail Corp’s offering next month, which could raise up to $2.4 billion in the bourse’s biggest ever IPO. But economic growth has slowed sharply and the benchmark stock index .SETI> has fallen 1.7% in the past 12 months.

“We consider this (the large number of listings) an unexpected plus …. but our long-term plans are based on the economy and industry growth rates,” Pakorn Peetathawatchai, president of SET, told Reuters in an interview.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Southeast Asia’s biggest bourse after Singapore, set a target in 2018 to achieve a combined market capitalization of all companies listed of 23 trillion baht ($757 billion) by 2023. That would be up from a market value of 16.6 trillion baht as of Wednesday’s close.

However, the target was based on forecasts that Thailand’s economy would grow by more than 4% annually over those years. The central bank now forecasts 2019 economic growth at 2.5%, a five-year low, and 2.8% for this year as exports have slowed.

“The underlying assumption at the time was 4.5% growth,” Pakorn said.

“Reaching that market capitalization on a slowdown in the global economy is difficult,” he said.

Corporate earnings have been hit by the slowdown, with top lender Siam Commercial Bank Pcl reporting a 22% drop in fourth quarter profits from a year earlier as lending shrunk 1.3%.

SET, which hosts 623 listed firms on its main index and another 200 on an alternative investment index, was assessing an adjustment of its goal, Pakorn said. For now it would still aim to add 550 billion baht to market capitalization each year with 250 billion from initial public offers, he said.

The biggest listing last year was hotelier Asset World Corporation , owned by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, which raised $1.6 billion

Other upcoming listings include the packaging unit of the country’s largest industrial conglomerate Siam Cement Group Pcl , worth $1 billion, and PTT Oil and Retail, a unit of the state-owned energy firm PTT Pcl

“If other big families or conglomerates come in, we can reach our goal,” Pakorn said.

New technologies are reforming businesses and companies are listing or spinning off smaller units to raise funds to adapt, SET Senior Executive Vice President, Manpong Senanarong, said.

“Companies need funds to invest because of the new economy, which is putting operators in a more competitive environment,” he said.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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Economy

B.C.’s debt and deficit forecast to rise as the provincial election nears

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VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.

Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.

Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”

The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.

Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.

“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”

Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.

Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.

Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.

B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.

The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.

“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”

Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.

Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.

The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.

Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.

Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.

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Mark Carney mum on carbon-tax advice, future in politics at Liberal retreat

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NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.

But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.

He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.

Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.

Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

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Nova Scotia bill would kick-start offshore wind industry without approval from Ottawa

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HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government has introduced a bill that would kick-start the province’s offshore wind industry without federal approval.

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says amendments within a new omnibus bill introduced today will help ensure Nova Scotia meets its goal of launching a first call for offshore wind bids next year.

The province wants to offer project licences by 2030 to develop a total of five gigawatts of power from offshore wind.

Rushton says normally the province would wait for the federal government to adopt legislation establishing a wind industry off Canada’s East Coast, but that process has been “progressing slowly.”

Federal legislation that would enable the development of offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador has passed through the first and second reading in the Senate, and is currently under consideration in committee.

Rushton says the Nova Scotia bill mirrors the federal legislation and would prevent the province’s offshore wind industry from being held up in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

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