Headlines summary as of 29 October 2021

News

• The PM held a press conference after the CCSA meeting affirming the post-1 November plan to allow tourists from 46 countries arriving via plane can enter the Kingdom without quarantine. The quarantine remains in place for tourists arriving by land.
  • The PM said that so-far there have been around 40,000 tourists entering Phuket Sandbox.
  • The PM has called for the protestors to refrain from stirring any violence as the Kingdom is reopening.
• The CCSA meeting has made the following ease of restrictions:
  • The reduction of Dark Red Zone from 23 provinces to 7 provinces (Chantaburi, Tak, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Naratiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkhla).
  • Bangkok, Krabi, Pang Nga and Phuket will be designated as blue provinces (tourists-prototype) and alcoholic beverages can be served when dine-in from 1 November.—Khao Sod
    • Bangkok Communicable Disease Committee has to come up with a plan to allow the alcoholic beverages.
  • The CCSA spokesperson introduced the new ‘Test and Go’ scheme for tourists from the designated countries within the last 21 days. The tourists must wait for the negative RT-PCR tests in the alternative quarantine or in SHA+ standard hotels. The tourists will need to get the second ATK test on the 6^th or 7^th day or when expressing symptoms.—See attached
  • The guidelines are as followed:

• The pandemic situation in the northern province of Chiang Mai is in crisis as the province can no longer take in any red (critical condition) patient and the yellow (severe) patient is at 97 percent capacity.—Khao Sod
  • The Chiang Mai governor has signed an order to delay the return to on-site study due to the spike of the cases.—Khao Sod
  • The Deputy PM and Public Health Minister said that

Politics

• The Royal Gazette has issued its latest order to control the pandemic. The order still bars the protest and gathering of the people which would even jeopardise the pandemic situation.—Thai Rath
• It is a good-to-go for Captain Thammnat to remain as the Palang Pracharat Party’s secretary-general
  • After a failed attempt to oust the secretary-general out of position, the political juggernaut remains in the leadership position. The party leader affirmed after the party executive meeting yesterday that there will be no change in the party executive structure and that the main-ruling party can still work with the PM.—Krungthep Turakij
  • The party executives held a press conference showing solidarity and affirming that there has been no change in the party leadership structure.—Krungthep Turakij
  • Captain Thammanat posted on his FB expressing gratitude towards all his supporter.—Thai Rath
• The director of Amnesty International Thailand said that Amnesty has issued a letter of condolence on the pass away of a 15-year-old boy who has been coping with the severe condition from being shot with live bullet in front of Din Daeng Police Station. The statement has called for the authority to prosecute the perpetrator.—Amnesty International Thailand
  • Anti-government Free Youth Movement is calling for a gathering in front of the Din Daeng Police Station from 5.00pm to express their condolence.—Free Youth
• The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration and other related anti-government groups are calling for a protest at the Bangkok CBD Ratchaprasong Intersection on Sunday from 4.00pm with the main message to call for the abolition of royal defamation law.–UFTD

Australia

• AFP factcheck pointed out that the photo of Russell Crowe holding donation envelop was a photoshopped photo of the Embassy Rabbit Card given to the Hollywood superstar.—AFP Fact Check

Economic:

• Commerce Minister Jurin said is he is ready to bring Thai delegates to participate in the WTO’s MC12 meeting from 30 November – 3 December in Geneva.  Commerce Ministry is consulting closely with its WTO Permanent Representative to make useful contributions to trade in the post-COVID19 era.  Source:  Krungthep Turakij newspaper, 29 October 2021
• The invitation to bring K-Pop sensation Lisa Manobah to the New Year countdown event in Phuket was rejected by her agency, accordint to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.  Instead, the government will organize events under the concept Reopen Thailand: Culture and Touirsm Festival in blue zonep prvoinces/pilot tourism areas to kick off Thailand’s reopening.  Source: 
• PM Prayut celebrates the news that foreign business confidence index (FBCI), which gauges foreign business sentiment in Thailand, had gone up to 41.7 in Q3 (from a scale of 100 points), up from 27.7 in Q2.  Foreign investors said they are feeling upbeat about Thailand’s prospects boosted by the government’s plan to reopen the country in November to inoculated foreign tourists and an increase in vaccine coverage.  Sources:  Siam RathBangkok Post
• Ministry of Finance (MoF) had downgraded Thailand’s GDP forecast for 2021 for the 4^th time to an average of 1 percent from its previous projection of 1.3 percent.  This is attributable to COVID-19 severely affecting the economy in Q3 of 2021, in which GDP is expected to contract by -3.5 percent but is set to rebound to +3 percent by Q4 as the country reopens in November.  Moreover, export is expected to expand by +16.3 percent this year.  In 2022, MoF expects the economy will see a 4 percent expansion.  Sources:  Bangkok Post   Thai Rath
• A survey by the Bank of Thailand revealed that Thais have better financial literacy at 71 percent compared to 66.2 percent in 2019.  However, a large number of Thais do not have enough savings to cope with an emergency situation for longer than 3 months, especially during COVID-19 outbreak.  Of the 11,901 households surveyed in Q4 of 2020, almost 39 percent had sufficient savings for 3 months for use during emergency when they lack a main income.  Over 60 percent do not have enough savings to sustain them for more than 3 months and only 17.8 percent have sufficient savings for retirement.  Sources: Naew Na Bangkok Post
• Airasia Super App aims to secure the largest share of 30 percent in Southeast Asia’s online travel agencies (OTAs) market in 5 years by maintaining double-digit growth from extensive online services.  The Super App’s expansion through air ticket booking service will help the firm reach this market as there are more than 700 international airlines that feature over 3,000 destinations in its app through many gateways, of which 25 airlines have direct partnerships with the app.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• At a special seminar on Circular Economy organised by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, the Higher Education, Science and R&D Minister Anek reiterated the importance of circular economy on propelling the success of BCG (bio-circular-green) economic model which can contribute to Thailand’s GDP by 1 trillion Baht in 2027.  The Thai government has announced BCG as a national agenda for 2021 and identified it as a pivotal element in post-COVID19 recovery as well as enabling Thailand to become a developed nation by year 2037.  It is also as an important agenda for its APEC Chairmanship in 2022.  State-run PTT is spearheading efforts to promote circular economy, while Chinese car manufacturer Haval pledges it will help Thailand domestically manufacture EV cars. The Federation of Thai Industries said it will promote new innovations that will minimise impacts on the environment and plans to establish a carbon credit trading centre.  Source:  Krungthep Turakij newspaper, 29 October 2021
• Transport Ministry reported that a total of 27 airlines that will carry 15,230 passengers have booked tickets to fly to Thailand from 1-5 November to coincide with the kingdom’s reopening.  Source:  Thansettakij
• The ongoing flooding has affected 5.5 million rais of agricultural land in 51 provinces and caused damages to various types of crop plantations.  This is expected to affect the supplies of crops for exports, in particular the processed food segment.  The supplies of corn, for example, has gone down significantly, with the Ready-to-Eat Meal Association noting that manufacturers have reduced their production capacity for processed corn by 50 percent.  Overall, export for agricultural product is anticipated to be sufficient only for the month of November, but not December this year or January 2022.  As such, the association is in talks with the Thailand’s trading partners to delay export dates.  Source:  Thansettakij