Thailand has invited the US to invest in the Kingdom to mend broken linkages in the global supply chain, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on May 14. The Thai premier spoke after participating in the 2nd ASEAN-US Special Summit in Washington, DC. on May 12-13. The summit marked 45 years of ASEAN-US relations. Prayut said Thailand urged the US to engage more creatively with ASEAN to support sustainable recovery. Bangkok also advised Washington to shift its focus away from using force towards humanitarian considerations, he added. Prayut was speaking against a backdrop of war between Russia and Ukraine, which is…
Author: Asia News Network
Construction of Thailand’s widest bridge, spanning the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, is more than 72 per cent complete, the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) said on May 15. The eight-lane route runs parallel to Rama IX Bridge and is scheduled to open next year. Costing 6.63 billion baht ($191 million), the new bridge comes under the fourth contract for the expressway project covering Rama III, Dao Khanong and Western Outer Ring Road. The project will facilitate travel between Bangkok and the west, EXAT said. Construction of the 2km-long cable-stayed bridge is being undertaken by Ch Karnchang Plc. The construction…
Bank Negara, the central bank of Malaysia, has raised the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) to two per cent on May 11, marking the start of interest rate normalisation after two years of ultra-monetary accommodation to lift the battered Malaysian economy out from the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the OPR was reduced by a cumulative 125 bps to a historic low of 1.75 per cent to stimulate the economy. It’s time to unwind the excessive monetary accommodation before we reach a point where the risks of monetary expansion outweigh the benefits of cheap credit in…
Authorities in Hanoi halted processing on all land partition applications of agricultural land or made up of agricultural areas and non-residential land in a move joined by other localities across Vietnam to combat real-estate speculation and hoarding. The move was announced in a recent memo by the capital city’s authority to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The Vietnam News Agency recently reported a large number of land partition applications were received by southern Tay Ninh province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment. A majority of the applications were for Hoa Thanh and Trang Bang townships as well as…
The global cryptocurrency market has been shaken up by the freefalling prices of South Korean-made cryptocurrency terraUSD, also known as UST, and its sister token luna, raising concerns that it may lead to the crypto market’s version of the Lehman Brothers collapse. According to crypto market analysis website CoinMarketCap, the prices of terraUSD and luna recorded 857 won ($0.66) and 443 won as of 2pm on May 12, down 14 per cent and 96 per cent from 24 hours before, respectively. Terraform Labs, established by Korean engineer-turned-CEO Do Kwon, developed both cryptocurrencies and is in charge of issuing them. The…
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with US officials and businesses ahead of the ASEAN-US Special Summit, trying to woo potential investors to Indonesia and the region while stressing the importance of ASEAN for peace and prosperity. Jokowi and several other ASEAN leaders met with US businesses at the Intercontinental Willard Hotel in Washington, DC. The president told the business leaders that as the president of the Group of 20 (G20) this year, Indonesia wanted to make sure that the upcoming G20 Summit could serve as a catalyst for global economic recovery, especially for developing countries. “This will need strong…
Job scam victims from Malaysia as well as Taiwan and mainland China are being held in prison-like conditions in the Myawaddy area at the Thai-Myanmar border, a victim has claimed. He claimed he was in a tightly guarded area where trafficked people were forced to become reluctant scammers to snare prospective victims around the world by phone. Workers from China were the worst treated and were beaten and confined to a dark room for days if they disobeyed orders, he said. “Malaysians are treated better but still get beaten if they do not perform,” the victim claimed after he managed…
Thailand will list Irrawaddy dolphins as a reserved species – the highest class of protection for animals in the country – after only 14 of them were found in the latest survey of Songkhla Lake. The national marine committee accepted a proposal to add the endangered river dolphins to the reserve list, according to fisheries professor Thon Thamrongnawasawat, who led the survey. The move comes after Natural Resources and Environment minister Varawut Silpa-Archa said Irrawaddy dolphins needed urgent protection to prevent their extinction in Thailand. Prof Thon said reserved-species status for the dolphins would spark increased conservation efforts, led by…
One of the easiest ways to embrace a sustainable lifestyle starts with recycling efforts at home. As consumers, the first step is to educate ourselves on what the symbols at the bottom of each plastic bottle mean. What’s often unseen though, is the reality for a group whose contributions are often forgotten – the women behind Asia’s plastic waste systems. In developing countries across South and Southeast Asia, a disproportionate percentage of women earn their livelihoods as informal waste workers. The term “waste worker” or “waste picker” was adopted at the First World Conference of Waste Pickers in Bogota in…
The Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI) has put forward a number of possible solutions to address the fluctuation in currency exchange rates, which has resulted in the ongoing fuel shortage. The continuing depreciation of the kip against the Thai baht and US dollar means businesses have to spend more to buy the foreign currencies needed to import goods including fuel. Speaking to the Vientiane Times on May 10, LNCCI vice-president Daovone Phachanthavong said the kip’s weak value was having a huge impact on the price of fuel in Laos. “Basically, I congratulate the government for reopening the…