BoT board boss pick delay

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Selection put on hold due to meddling concerns.

A commission that was set up to select a new chairman of the Board of Governor for the Bank of Thailand has postponed its choice until further notice due to concerns about potential political interference from many individuals, including former BoT government Tarisa Watanagase.

Apparently, the state has indicated that it intends to send its individual candidate to replace Porametee Vimolsiri, whose term ends this month. Past Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong has a strong chance of landing the position.

Past Pheu Thai Party deputy president and chief strategist for the market, Mr. Kittiratt. He even criticized the BoT’s attention rate plan and the company’s freedom while serving as an assistant to former prime minister Srettha Thavisin.

The seven-member collection panel convened on Tuesday afternoon to discuss whether Mr. Kittiratt would be chosen. But, it decided to postpone the choice pending more data gathering.

Its members are former financing permanent secretary Sathit Limphongpan, past business permanent director Boonyarit Kalayanamitr, former business permanent secretary Witoon Simachokedee, past Budget Bureau producer Worawit Champeerat, former director general of the Council of State Office Atchaporn Charuchinda, former SEC secretary-general Pakorn Malakul na Ayutthaya, and former secretary of the Office of the Insurance Commission Sutthipol Thaweechaikarn.

Mr Pakorn said the gathering was diverse, and the agency’s director was assigned to provide more info. Mr Atchaporn said more information is needed to vet the prospects ‘ skills, and the next meeting has not yet been scheduled.

Ms Vireka Suntapuntu, the panel’s director, said the information must be complete for the selection to be true, so the secretary has asked for more time to evaluate it.

On Tuesday, Mr. Worawit confirmed that Mr. Kittiratt was a candidate.

Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira reportedly shone a dim light on speculation that the government intends to assign a legislator for the position.

When the subject was brought up, he was speaking to reporters about potential conversations with BoT government Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput regarding economic policy and the government’s financial stimulus measures.

He responded:” Is it? BoT? Lawmaker”?

There was no social interference, according to deputy finance secretary Julapun Amornvivat, and the procedure was conducted in accordance with the law.

He said he had no information about Mr Kittiratt’s frequently speculated session.

In the meantime, Tarisa Watanagase, a former governor of the central bank, on Tuesday urged the council to choose the board president to exhibit moral courage.

She claimed in a social media post that the state was unsatisfied with the BoT’s decisions regarding interest rates and the 10,000-baht digital budget plan.

She warned that if the candidate with the government support was elected president, it would open the door to political meddling and had significant financial effects.

The selection panel must make a good conscience choice, which may prevent further financial issues, she said.

Ms. Tarisa argued that political interference in central banks, as seen in other nations, was proof that institutions lacking independence ca n’t always maintain long-term economic stability.

The law requires the collection council members to become retired senior representatives from financial institutions who have lived up to all expectations, according to Ms. Tarisa, in order to protect against political meddling.

She expressed hope that the committee would uphold the principles.

Meanwhile, Luangta Maha Bua’s supporters on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to protest the government’s alleged interference in the BoT.

The monk’s disciples slammed the finance minister’s appointment of the committee to select the BoT’s board and chairman. They claimed that the panel did not include any former central bank governors, which suggests an intention to interfere with the organization’s operations.

Kittiratt:

Kittiratt Na-Ranong

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Myanmar talks tackle border river issues

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PUBLISHED: 9 Oct 2024 at 06: 49

The Mae Sai River heavily overflows in Chiang Rai province recently. (Photo: Wiang Phang Kham sub-district municipal office)
Lately, Chiang Rai province’s Mae Sai River overflows significantly. ( Photo: Wiang Phang Kham sub-district municipal office )

In order to cooperate more effectively with each other to solve the flood issues in the area, Thailand and Myanmar were scheduled to examine on Wednesday the possibility of destroying buildings that extend over the Mae Sai River.

A plan approved by the Thai government on Monday may be discussed at a conference of the Thai-Myanmar joint council on the Mae Sai and Nam Ruak rivers, according to Lt. Gen. Natthaphong Phraokaeo, the head of the Royal Thai Army’s Department of Border Affairs.

The Thai part states in the request that it believes the Mae Sai River really keep an average length of at least 30 meters to improve the flow of water and drastically reduce the risk of run-off overflowing the river banks, according to him.

He said a strong partnership is necessary to remove protruding structures from the river in order to accomplish this goal.

Lt. Gen Natthaphong stated,” The ultimate goal for 2025 is to prevent flooding that occurs as a result of Mae Sai overflowing.”

Lt. Gen. Natthaphong added that the Myanmar side had proposed that both sides remove structures that protruded into the Mae Sai and Nam Ruak rivers in 13 locations, with six on the Myanmar side and seven on the Thai side, in 2018.

He did point out that the proposal has not yet prompted any action.

Therefore, at Wednesday’s meeting, both sides aim to at least reach an agreement on concrete measures that will possibly help sustain their flood prevention efforts, curb the risk of an unexpected natural disaster, and mitigate its impact on both nations, he said.

A proposal for Thailand and Myanmar to develop a new joint operation plan for flood prevention in the long term, which should start with a new boundary survey and demarcation, he said, was also expected to be discussed at Wednesday’s joint committee meeting.

Thai authorities reportedly fought activity on the Myanmar side of the Mae Sai River on October 1 as thick muddy debris from flooding was being dumped into the river.

Myanmar authorities ordered the activity to be stopped after receiving an objection from the Thai-Myanmar Township Border Committee ( TBC ), and later explained that the event was being carried out by a private party who might not be familiar with the joint border rules and laws.

Additionally, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote a letter of opposition to its Myanmar counterpart regarding the unlawful dumping of mud into the river. The latter reaffirmed that the problem had already been resolved.

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Trump’s economic program would weaken the US – and Australia – Asia Times

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It’s time to take Donald Trump seriously. Betting markets say it’s as likely as not he will be elected US president in four weeks.

And unlike in 2016 when his program wasn’t clearly defined, he has set out plainly what he intends to do. Which means it’s possible to model the consequences.

The three Trump promises with the greatest economic impact are

  • the deportation of millions of US residents
  • steep restrictions on imports, especially from China
  • presidential influence over interest rates.

The best way to model the consequences is with an established model of the kind used by the International Monetary Fund and central banks around the world rather than one set up for the purpose that could be seen as designed to favor or not favor Trump.

The Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics has just done that, noting that during Trump’s first term as president he “by and large” did what he said he would do.

It finds

ironically, despite his “make the foreigners pay” rhetoric, Trump’s package of policies does more damage to the US economy than to any other in the world.

No other country in the world would be hurt by Trump’s program as much as the US – not even China – although several US allies would suffer, including Australia, which would be the fourth-worst hit by the most extreme version of what Trump is proposing.

Mass deportations

Trump has repeatedly promised the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” targeting up to 20 million unauthorized immigrants, including about 8.3 million thought to be in the workforce.

He says his model is Operation Wetback – a 1956 Eisenhower administration program that used military-style tactics to deport 1.3 million Mexicans.

The institute says Eisenhower’s success makes it easy to believe Trump could remove 1.3 million immigrant workers. It has modeled two scenarios: removing 1.3 million and 8.3 million, both over two years in 2025 and 2026.

Both slash employment, including the employment of non-immigrants, both push up inflation, which eventually is brought under control, and both make the US a less attractive place to invest, which benefits much of the rest of the world.

The institute says the low and high scenarios differ “only by the degree of damage inflicted on people, households, firms and the overall economy”.

Huge tariff hikes

Trump wants to increase every tariff on goods imported to the US by 10 percentage points, including where there is at present no tariff. And he wants at least a 60% tariff on imports from China. The institute has modelled both, with and without retaliatory tariffs from China and the rest of the world.

It finds, unsurprisingly, that extra tariffs push up the price of US imports and the prices of US-produced goods that compete with imports. Many are used as inputs in manufacturing, which means US manufacturing suffers (which is probably not what Trump had in mind).

Fewer imports mean less demand for foreign exchange within the US, which means a higher US dollar which makes US exports less competitive. The US economy is weaker as a result, although China’s is weaker still and Australia’s is weakened as much as the US given its role in providing resources to China.

Tampering with the Fed

Trump has raised the prospect of more presidential influence over interest rates, saying he thinks he has “a better instinct than, in many cases” the board of US Federal Reserve. This could be achieved by requiring the president to be consulted on rate decisions or by appointing a compliant chair.

However it’s done, the institute’s “conservative” assumption based on what happens in developing countries with less central bank independence is that it will push inflation two percentage points higher.

The modeled result is capital flight. While the US economy is initially stronger than it would have been because of the Fed’s willingness to tolerate higher inflation, after a few years it is weaker and every other economy is stronger.

When all the measures are combined, under the extreme scenarios the US economy is 6.7% weaker than it would have been by 2035 and Australia’s is 0.2% weaker. Under the more modest scenarios, the US economy is 1.6% weaker and Australia’s is 0.06% weaker.

Why not examine Harris?

Despite a history of non-partisanship, the Peterson Institute is prepared for criticism. It points out that the economic model it used is regarded as the best in the world for scenario planning and is Australian, built by Warwick McKibbin of the Australian National University.

And it says it has modeled the Trump policies rather than the Harris policies because only Trump’s represent a departure from business as usual.

As the Institute’s president, Adam Posen, put it in Washington last month, the Harris campaign has said it will not impose across-the-board tariffs, will not engage in mass deportations and will not interfere with the independence of the US Federal Reserve.

The Trump campaign has indicated it will do all three.

It’s entirely possible that in office Trump wouldn’t do everything he proposed while campaigning, and it’s entirely possible that he would change course if what was doing damaged the US in the way the modeling suggests.

But there’s something to be said for taking people at their word, at least to get an idea of what we could be in store for after a knife-edge election.

Peter Martin is a visiting fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Xi knows what it takes to sustain China’s rally – Asia Times

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Last year, as Chinese shares produced their biggest obtain since 2015, Lu Ting, general China analyst at Nomura Holdings, was warning investors not to forget another, more tragic memory from that same time.

The risk of repeating the amazing boom and bust of 2015 was fall quickly in the coming months, Lu information.

Lu adds that in a worst-case situation,” a stock market madness had been followed by a fall, similar to what happened in 2015″. He continues,” We wish Beijing could be more calm, while investors might still be Sure to partake in the growth for the time being.”

But alcoholism does appear to be returning, and more quickly. Though perhaps not Lu’s” accident” situation, family names like JPMorgan Asset Management, HSBC Global Private Banking and Invesco Ltd. are also advising precaution. Invesco, for one, worries coast stocks are “really overvalued”.

This is very questionable, of course. Consider the financial giants Fidelity International, an investment company, among those who also see a lot of value in mainland shares after years of losses totaling many trillions of US dollars.

Goldman Sachs Group, to. If the government fulfills its promise regarding stimulus measures, the Wall Street giant now has an overweight view of mainland shares with a 15-20 % potential for growth.

Current policy decisions by Beijing, according to Goldman strategist Tim Moe, “have led the marketplace to think that policy makers have become more concerned about taking enough action to reduce left-tail growth risk,” the market believes.

BlackRock has not reaffirmed its bearish position on Chinese stocks in the past. In light of how attractive prices had become in relation to peers in the developed-market, as its managers wrote on October 1:” We see room to turn quietly big Chinese shares in the near term.”

Despite this, Xi Jinping’s state had continue to pay attention to the fact that foreign investors have debated how much China has actually advanced since 2015. Shanghai stock lost a second of their value in just three months in that year. Beijing’s response last week to plunging shares was n’t nearly as overwhelming as after the July 2015 stumble.

A week ago, the People’s Bank of China cut borrowing costs, slashed businesses ‘ supply need numbers, reduced loan rates and unveiled new market-support resources to put a floor under share prices. Additionally, proposals for strong fiscal stimulus measures are being considered.

In the days that followed, Chinese stocks skyrocketed. Some sobriety had returned by the week’s end and into Monday, though, as traders began to wonder how many things Xi’s team had learned from 2015.

More troubling, is perhaps what they did n’t. In other words, addressing the symptoms of China’s challenges with waves of liquidity is no substitute for supply-side reforms that address the underlying issues.

In China, circa 2024, the biggest ailment is a property crisis that Xi’s reform team has yet to end. Some economists believe that the fallout has hampered Asia’s largest economy, which has since been deflating this year, and that it is at risk of repeating Japan’s mistakes from the 1990s.

The most obvious lesson is not to focus more on short-term stimulus than structural improvements that improve competition, boost competition, and lower the risk of boom-bust cycles.

The 2015 episode saw something of a whole-of-government response to plunging shares. China Inc. at the time launched waves of state funds into the market, halted trading in thousands of businesses, discontinued all initial public offerings, and made it possible for mainlanders to pledge homes as collateral on margin loans. It even rushed out buzzy marketing campaigns to encourage stock-buying as a form of&nbsp, patriotism.

Although the response did work for some time, it was in opposition to Xi’s pledge to allow market forces to influence economic and financial policy decisions.

Since then, this treating-symptoms-over-reforms pattern has played out too many times for comfort. All of which explains why investors are concerned that using state-friendly funds to buy stocks and save money could actually go wrong.

In consequence, it is possible to make valid arguments that too frequently initiatives to promote the private sector, improve transparency, or improve corporate governance have failed to achieve the same results.

Only time will tell if Xi’s most recent actions in support of falling stock prices could also thaw out the reform process. However, Xi’s Communist Party ca n’t afford to fail in this most recent bull run for Chinese shares.

Lu’s case at Nomura is that nearly four years of turmoil in the property sector, made worse by Covid-19 lockdowns, has exacerbated troubles with rising local government debt. These pre-existing issues led to trade disputes between the US and Europe, and a flaming Middle East.

” While investors might still be OK to indulge in the boom for now, a more sober assessment is required”, Lu says.

What’s needed, say economists like Michael Pettis, senior fellow at Carnegie China, is “rebalancing” efforts that mark a decisive” shift in the economic model” to “reverse decades of explicit and implicit transfers in which households have subsidized investment and production”. And as Pettis views it, Xi’s latest fiscal effort “is n’t really part of a real structural rebalancing”.

The problem, Pettis adds, is that if China does n’t upend its growth model, “imbalances will continue to build”, meaning the nation “risks facing the same problem in the future as it does now, only without a clean central-government balance sheet to help it manage potential disruptions”.

It’s possible to end this cycle decisively. Particularly in view of the party’s most recent policy conclaves, including July’s closely watched” Third Plenum”. Xi and Premier Li Qiang showed once more that they fully comprehend what must be done to boost China’s economy, increase competition, and boost productivity.

Among the signals that were music to investors ‘ ears were pledges to: “unswervingly encourage” the private sector, pivot to “high-quality development“, accelerate” Chinese-style modernization”, champion “innovative vitality”, and “actively expand domestic demand”.

It’s no small thing that the Plenum communique” for the first time mentions carbon reduction,” says Belinda Schäpe, China policy analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. This elevates China’s commitment to reducing emissions and tackling climate change&nbsp, to a new level”.

Missing, though, has been urgent implementation since. That includes rebalancing the growth engines, reducing the influence of ineffective state-owned enterprises that still control the economy and financial imbalances caused by falling real estate values to struggling municipalities struggling with mounting debts.

To grease the skids for these and other disruptive reforms, says economist Brad&nbsp, Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Beijing must overcome its aversion to fiscal pump-priming.

” The needed reforms to China’s central government center around freeing itself from the set of largely self-imposed constraints”, Setser says. ” Such constraints have limited its ability to use its considerable fiscal space to help China sort out its current bind: a shrinking property sector and falling household confidence.”

According to Setser,” the central government has ample room to ensure that the property developers deliver on pre-sales– or provide a refund… and to expand the provision of social insurance while lowering regressive taxes.” Even if that results in a larger central government deficit, the central government still has the ability to change the revenue-sharing formulas to support the troubled provincial governments.

Setser goes on to say that if China’s central government had fiscal space and used it to give households more freedom to spend money, it might be able to recover from the country’s property slump on its own, without relying even more on exports.

A significant policy push also needs to include efforts to create bigger, more dynamic social safety nets to encourage households to spend less and save more.

Xi has repeatedly demonstrated that he is aware of how to create a more creative, productive, and market-friendly China. His team simply needs to act or risk paying the price for yet another deceitful global investor.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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Can China’s stimulus blitz fix its flagging economy? – Asia Times

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Pan Gongsheng, the government of China’s northern bank, announced a raft of methods on September 24 aimed at boosting the government’s flagging economy. Problems that China might not meet its unique 5 % annual growth specific were the focus of the decision, which came a week before the 75th anniversary of communist party rule.

The amount of money reserves that professional businesses are required to include as deposits with the central bank was reduced by 0.5 % in the stimulus package. This should open up roughly 1 trillion renminbi for fresh borrowing. Pan predicted that by 2024, the amount could be lowered by another 0.25 to 0.5 %.

Additionally, the central bank’s lending rate to commercial banks has decreased by 0.2 % percentage points. Pan gave the impression that this would be followed by a 20 to 25 schedule point cut in the interest rate charged to consumers with the best credit scores.

The central bank has reduced the deposit requirement for people looking to purchase a second home from 25 % to 15 % in an effort to stop the downward trend that saw house prices fall by their highest rate in nine years in August.

As investors anticipate a rise in the demand for goods and services, payment expansion may have a positive impact on the price of commodities and the financial markets. And, following the kills of fresh methods, this is exactly what we have seen.

China’s key share score surged by more than 4 % within days of the main company’s statement, enjoying its best single-day rally in 16 years. And this was followed by an over 1 % increase in the standard fuel price. Since then, sentiment has remained positive, with Chinese securities increasing by about 20 % over the five days that followed.

Expansionary plans do, but, even come with risks. Since 2021, China’s housing market has been in crisis as a result of the government’s restrictions on the amount of money developers can acquire, which has caused many developers to default on their debts. Making significant borrowing costs could rekindle a surge in sales and values, causing a new housing bubble.

But it could be a thus before China’s house industry starts to burn. House costs in China are falling rapidly and there’s lots of extra inventory. According to Goldman Sachs, the government may need to invest more than 15 trillion yuan to resolve the sector’s issues, which is significantly more than the new stimulus campaign can deliver on its own.

It is difficult to predict the long-term effects of the main bank’s new financial deal. It will likely take a year or two before any actual results start to appear. But, at least in theory, the growth of private credit that will be triggered by the main bank’s lending rate cut, as well as the related banking stimulus, may spread to the wider economy.

In China, there are countless houses that have not been sold. &nbsp, Photo: Andres Martinez Casares / EPA via The Talk

This may restore building and construction activities, increase customer spending, and boost demand for capital goods. This might later encourage China to move toward home demand-driven growth rather than export-dependent growth.

China’s economic miracle has traditionally been based on export growth, which reached their highest level in 2006, when exports accounted for 36 % of GDP. This percentage has come down considerably since then, falling to 19.7 % in 2023, but it still remains large relative to similar markets. In 2022, the export-to-GDP amount in the US, for example, was 11.6 %.

Due to this, China is especially vulnerable to political shocks like the US’s decision to impose new tariffs on imports of Taiwanese electric vehicles, thermal products, and batteries.

The tariffs have decreased the need for Chinese imports in the US business, but they have not undermined China’s standing in global supply chains. The need, especially for Chinese electrical vehicles in the US, was, certainly now very small.

The prospect is not so dark

China’s market is undergoing turmoil. However, China has consistently outperformed the rest of the world since 1990 in terms of GDP progress, and its financial outlook is still largely positive.

In fact, China’s 5 % monthly development goal is still much higher than that of the majority of other nations. Other than the US, growth is anticipated to continue at a G7-level annual rate of 2 %.

Because these nations contribute a sizable portion to China’s exports, the country’s economy did still struggle as a result of the country’s poor economic outlook. In the upcoming years, China may gain more from equipment jobs spearheaded by the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Development Bank.

These facilities projects are connecting China with resource-rich core Asian countries through highways, railways, oil pipelines and power systems. In 2023, China and Kazakhstan signed a lucrative oil offer agreement. And China now accounts for the majority of Mongolia’s metal exports, which increased by approximately 3 % between 2023 and 2024.

China may gain from bilateral trade with other major emerging markets, including Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia. Over recent decades, China has developed closer business ties with these states and has led efforts to say six novel people – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia– at the start of 2025.

We are eager to find out what effect the new measures from the central bank will have. However, a positive impact on China’s economic outlook would be a positive influence on the rest of the world’s economic outlook and consumer confidence.

Sambit Bhattacharyya is professor of economics, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex

The Conversation has republished this article under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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US needs a solution to China’s problem – Asia Times

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Whoever wins will have the breeze at their backs, according to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, who both have pledged to lead a developing revival.

Thanks in large part to grants provided by the Chips and Science Act, the Prices Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, many new companies are already under development in the United States. With continued emphasis from Washington, the country could observe ground broken on still more innovative companies.

Do n’t, however, undervalue the threat China poses to the revival of American industry. China has a lot of professional overcapacity, and the state there is investing in even more. That will increase the cost of a wide range of manufactured products, making it harder for new companies to succeed outside of China.

China denies it has overcapacity. The Chinese claim that foreigners who employ that phrase are attempting to prevent China’s rise by suggesting there should be limitations on how much it can generate and export.

But China now dominates world developing. It produces 35 % of the country’s factory output. That’s almost six times the US’s 12 % share of the top two producers, the US, and more than the combined stock of the next nine largest manufacturing nations.

Economist Richard Baldwin calls China” the world’s ultimate producing power”.

According to international economists, China’s obsession with production has caused its economy to be extremely imbalanced and heavily dependent on investment at the expense of consumption. They say this underlies the government’s slowing growth, rising poverty and real-estate debt problems.

China’s officials reject that research. They are planning to export items that the domestic market ca n’t handle while doubling down on their manufacturing investments. They are attempting to rule the high-tech sectors of the future by pushing for upward growth.

” China’s increased investments will not be a little storm, but rather a US$ 450 billion wave over the next three years”, says Harry Moser, chairman of the Reshoring Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to bringing production jobs up to the US.

The Chinese president’s support for its makers was in a group of its own, even before the most recent double-down, according to the Wall Street Journal. In 2019, China spent 1.7 % of its GDP on business policy. The US spent 0.4 %.

And China’s 1.7 % does n’t take into account a variety of indirect subsidies – cheap loans from state-owned banks, tax breaks of various kinds, cheap steel from state-owned steel companies and cheap energy from state-owned utilities. One estimate cited by the Journal puts China’s actual industrial-policy spending close to 5 % of national income.

And China’s spending is n’t just deep, it’s broad. ” Ninety-nine percent of publicly listed companies report some kind of subsidy”, the Journal information.

As much about authority as economy are involved in the doubling over. China wants to reduce its reliance on different nations. They should rely on China more, it wants.

Other countries, especially the US, do n’t want to be more reliant on China. They fear more poverty and suburbanization, but that’s not their just stress.

Washington has been reminded that a solid business foundation is essential to national security by the Russian war of Ukraine and Israel’s conflict with Hamas. In a turmoil, Cocavid taught the US that it’s foolish to concentrate on other nations for essential supplies.

Government politicians in the US, Europe, and other countries are having a hard time coming up with solutions to the China issue. With varying degrees of success, the last two US governments have tried tariffs and incentives in various ways.

Trump is promising yet higher taxes and is threatening businesses that are moving their manufacturing abroad, including John Deere. Harris claims that she will grant tax credits to motivate opportunities in brand-new factories. It’s unclear how significant these efforts may be.

Anyhow, these are techniques. As I’ve argued earlier, what the nation needs is a plan. A bipartisan committee of experts will be set up to examine the issue and suggest solutions.

More than remain with the ready-fire-aim technique both parties have been taking, we need first to agree on solutions to some important questions.

How many production is required to avoid relying on China? Without the assistance of the government, how many new production can be created? Which companies deserve help? Which of the many probable techniques can you provide that support the best?

Another crucial issue for this fee may be whether to collaborate with other nations to reduce China’s dependence or to go it only. In my next article, I’ll address that query.

A base has been laid for this fee: Both parties agree there’s a problem. It’s for trying to see if they can agree on options. China Shock 2’s potential risks are such significant that a coordinated effort from all parties is required. This grant bipartisanship a possibility.

Previous lifelong Wall Street Journal Asia journalist and editor&nbsp, Urban Lehner&nbsp, is writer professor of DTN/The Progressive Farmer.

This&nbsp, content, &nbsp, previously published on&nbsp, October 2 by the latter news business and then republished by Asia Times with authority, is © Copyright 2024 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved. Follow&nbsp, Urban Lehner&nbsp, on&nbsp, X @urbanize

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Requirements for real estate agents, lawyers to be clarified under new anti-money laundering measures

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SINGAPORE: Some of the customers that real estate agents work with may become representing different individuals.

Consumers may be acting on behalf of the valuable owner&nbsp, –&nbsp, the person who finally enjoys the benefits of owning the house, even if it is in another brand.

Real estate agents will soon be made aware that the government needs to track down and evaluate the identities of potential clients.

When conducting buyer due diligence and monitoring existing clients, this condition also applies to estate agencies, developers, lawyers, and law training organizations.

The inter-ministerial council that reviewed Singapore’s anti-money laundering government, which released its record on Friday ( October 4), made comments to clarify the criteria for the real estate and legitimate businesses.

There is a danger of abuse when a customer is not the best beneficial owner of a deal or asset, according to the report. It is already necessary to identify and verify the true owners of businesses.

12 fresh recommendations were made in the report that aimed to successfully enforce money laundering laws as well as preventing and detecting money laundering. They include creating data-sharing programmes between government departments to identify suspicious activity.

The inter-ministerial council, which was set up in late 2023, &nbsp, drew lessons from the billion-dollar income fraud case.

The recommendations, according to Second Minister for Finance Ms. Indranee Rajah, were carefully calibrated to enhance Singapore’s defenses while maintaining its economy and minimizing their effects on reputable businesses.

” As you will understand, this is a great balancing act, because for every action and every estimate, there are trade-offs”, she said.

” The program cannot be too weak, but at the same time, it cannot be very strict, because we do not want to restrict true, law-abiding companies. It must be exactly right to help Singapore to have a free and open economy while also being unfriendly to illicit funds.

Over the next few weeks, Ms. Indranee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the corrections for the real estate and legitimate businesses are anticipated to be released.

She noted that the legitimate market is familiar with anti-money fraud needs.

The legal field should look into the subject of valuable possession, she said, giving some recommendations on how to go about doing so. She added that this would most likely be done through the Legal Profession Act, requirements, and the Law Society.

More needs to be done, however, to help those in the real estate sector understand the nature of their obligations, and to help them carry out their responsibilities.

” Imagine you’re a real estate person, and you’re trying to get your sale done. It’s very hard to look your client in the eye and say:’ Tell me where your money came from,'” said Ms Indranee. &nbsp,

Agents must be able to respond in a way that makes it clear that the question is a systemic one, that it belongs to a team, and not just a personal one.

HIGH-VALUE GOODS AT RISK?

Banks, casinos, real estate agents and precious stones and precious metals dealers have been identified as “regulated gatekeepers” who can help with detecting money laundering activities. &nbsp,

But what about other, unregulated sectors that may be used by criminals?

The inter-ministerial committee suggested that more education be provided in non-regulated industries, including by involving dealers in high-quality goods.

” We will be engaging the car dealers next week”, said Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Home Affairs. &nbsp,

She claimed that the Ministry of Home Affairs keeps an eye on global trends to see if criminals are laundering money using other expensive items like art works or collectibles.

Then we will focus on these industries and reach out to the dealers in these industries to let them know that this is a risk they should be keeping an eye out for.

She added that everyone is required to report suspicious transactions.

” That is why we are going out to outreach and educate those unregulated sectors,” she said. &nbsp,

It’s difficult to predict what goods will be used, according to Ms. Indranee, but they are typically high-value items that are anticipated to increase in value.

Everyone would have been suspicious of Bearbrick toys five years ago, she said, but cars and property are obvious.

She also responded to a question about the excessive fines in Singapore for money-launderers.

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Mae Sai floods recede, Chiang Mai on alert as Ping River rises

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In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 4 Oct 2024 at 11: 25

A man checks the floodwater of the Sai River in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai, near the border with Tachileik town, Myanmar, on Friday. (Photo: Chiang Rai Public Relations Office)
A gentleman checks the rainwater of the Sai River in Mae Sai area, Chiang Rai, near the border with Tachileik area, Myanmar, on Friday. ( Photo: Chiang Rai Public Relations Office )

After the Sai River overflowed its institutions on Thursday, causing workers to strengthen the river on the Thai area, flooding has eased in the Mae Sai city of Chiang Rai.

The water levels at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge had dropped 60 centimeters as of 9am on Friday, but it is still at a critical stage, according to the Public Relations Office in Chiang Rai.

Mae Sai was once again flooded by the river’s flow, with specially affected areas like the Sai Lom Joy business close to Tachileik, a border town in Myanmar.

More significant sandbags have been stacked up near the bridge, more causing flooding in the city, which is recovering from past month’s heavy rains. Workers and soldiers have been deployed. One of the areas in the northeastern province that was heavily damaged by the current deluge is Mae Sai.

Residents and visitors are evacuated on a vehicle from a flooded location in Muang city, Chiang Mai, on Friday. ( Photo: Chiang Mai Municipality Office )

Residents and visitors are evacuated on a vehicle from a flooded location in Muang city, Chiang Mai, on Friday. ( Photo: Chiang Mai Municipality Office )

In Chiang Mai, the Ping River rose from 4.80 yards at 7am to 4.85m by 10am on Friday, even reaching critical rates.

Kuakul Manasamphanthasakul, chairman of the Chiang Mai Irrigation Office, warned of probable flooding after in the day as a large volume of water from upstream regions, including Chiang Dao, was flowing towards Muang area.

Employees and individuals are assisting locals and tourists in flooded areas, according to the Chiang Mai Municipality Office, to relocate to safer places.

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