HONG KONG: Despite the fact that Chinese designers Country Garden and Sunac forged loan agreements with creditors to help the crisis-stricken real estate industry, there was still doubt regarding a treatment in house sales. Shares of Sunac China Holdings increased by as much as 14 % on Tuesday( Sept 19)Continue Reading
19 September 2023 at 12:35 PUBLISHED
In Poipet, four additional Thais were detained and sent back to Thailand for legal action after being arrested in connection with a family drama in Samut Prakan.
According to Pol Col Rung Thongmon, chief of the Sa Kaeo immigration police, Cambodian immigration officers contacted Thai officials on Monday evening and informed them that they were deporting the four Thais — one man and three women— through the Poipet – Aranyaprathet checkpoint.
The suspects were detained in Cambodia as part of a joint operation with Vietnamese authorities to crackdown on mobile scammers based it.
The family drama in Samut Prakan, where a man killed his wife and two children on August 28 at their home in the Bang Phli city, was earlier attributed to the group, according to assistant federal police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn. The gentleman attempted suicide but was unsuccessful after his wife was killed by the group and accrued a sizable debt. & nbsp,
Another Thai male was also deported to Thailand, according to Pol Col Rung, and was detained by Thai authorities on suspicion of entering illegally.
According to Pol Col Rung, Aranyaprathet city main Chakkrapong Phanchot, immigration officials, local police, and military waited at the Thai-Cambodia friendship gate on Monday evening and detained all five defendants as they returned.
For legal action, the five were brought to the Aranyaprathet immigration station business. & nbsp,
The Samut Prakan Provincial Court had issued arrest warrants for the four alleged con artists, who were wanted for international violence, putting misleading information in a computer system, and fraud. They acknowledged being the individuals listed in the subpoenas during inquiring, Pol Col Rung said. According to him andnbsp, they were given to the Bang Phli law for legal actions.
19 September 2023 at 12:35 PUBLISHED
Four more Thais were detained in Poipet and sent back to Thailand for legal action after being arrested for their involvement in a fraud ring connected to the family drama in Samut Prakan.
The four Thais — one man and three women — were being deported through the Poipet-Aranyaprathet checkpoint, according to Pol Col Rung Thongmon, chief of the Sa Kaeo immigration police, who contacted Thai officials on Monday evening.
In a joint operation with Thai authorities, the suspects were detained in Cambodia as part of an effort to stop phone scammers it.
The family drama in Samut Prakan, where a man killed his wife and two children on August 28 at their home in the Bang Phli city, was earlier attributed to the group, according to assistant federal police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn. The person attempted suicide but was unsuccessful after his wife was killed by the group and accrued a sizable debt. & nbsp,
Another Thai male was also deported to Thailand, according to Pol Col Rung, and was detained by Thai authorities on suspicion of entering illegally.
According to Pol Col Rung, the five suspects were detained as they returned on Monday night at the Thai-Cambodia connection bridge by Aranyaprathet district main Chakkrapong Phanchot, immigration officers, local police, and soldiers.
For legal action, the five were brought to the Aranyaprathet immigration station company. & nbsp,
After the four con artists were turned over by Cambodian government, immigration officers and city officials question them( right ) under the direction of Aranyaprathet district chief Chakkrapong Phanchot. ( Photo: district office of Aranyaprathet)
The Samut Prakan Provincial Court had issued arrest warrants for the four alleged con artists, who were wanted for scam, putting false information in a computer system, and international violence. The defendants revealed during interrogation that they were the individuals listed in the subpoenas, according to Pol Col Rung. He claimed that they were given to the Bang Phli law for legal actions.
Suphon Wongwian was identified as the adult scam think on the Facebook page for the Aranyaprathet area office, and Kanokporn Kraisuk, Nisarat Sukkasem and Kornkanok Singthit were the women. the four mule-owned banks records that the con artists who killed Samut Prakan used.
Five deportee was fined and eventually released after being detained for entering Cambodia improperly. He was never involved in any legal cases, according to the authorities. & nbsp,
As the “avoid China” theme gains currency with foreign investors, a daunting question confronts President Xi Jinping: What can Beijing do to change a narrative that risks taking on a life of its own?
As Bank of America reports based on its latest global fund manager survey, this sell-China dynamic has morphed into a leading one among respondents controlling roughly US$616 billion in assets under management. What’s more, the exodus seems to be accelerating even as data suggest Asia’s biggest economy may be stabilizing.
On Monday, the CSI 300 Index dropped to its lowest level of 2023 as selling driven by global funds extended into a fifth straight day. The exodus is now well into a sixth straight week despite Xi’s team either introducing or telegraphing fresh moves to buoy confidence. In other words, a losing streak too long in duration to dismiss.
The challenge for Xi is that explanations for China’s stock rout come from a number of angles. One is a mainland property market showing increased signs of distress. Another is weak consumer confidence following Xi’s draconian Covid-era lockdowns. Rising tensions with the West and with key Asian economies including Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia are unsettling investors, too.
Concerns about Chinese deflation aren’t helping. They’re colliding with uncertainty about how China can escape efforts by Saudi Arabia to jack up oil prices already elevated by Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Ostensibly aimed at damaging US President Joe Biden’s re-election prospects, Riyadh’s antics could undermine Chinese growth as export markets slow.
The solution is for Xi and Premier Li Qiang to accelerate efforts to build deeper, more transparent and globally trusted capital markets.
“China faces a prolonged and painful downswing as Beijing battles debt deflation,” says Diana Choyleva, chief economist at Enodo Economics. “While further stimulus is coming, simply throwing more money at the problem will no longer make it go away. China needs to secure markets abroad and retain investment to find its feet amid ideological obstacles to consumer spending.”
On Monday, central bank Governor Pan Gongsheng pledged to accelerate moves to stabilize trade and strengthen the business environment for foreign companies and investors. Pan made his remarks about putting out a bigger welcome mat for foreign capital at a forum attended by executives from BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Tesla Inc. and UBS Group AG, among others.
Pan signaled that Beijing is mulling steps to level the playing field and strengthen the operating environment for overseas companies.
Last month, the China Securities Regulatory Commission rolled out a series of steps to “boost capital market investor confidence” in bonds and stocks. They include cutting stamp duties on securities transactions and a more selective process for executing initial public offerings.
Beijing slashed the levies on trades to 0.05% from 0.1%, the first such reduction since 2008. The step is meant to, as the Ministry of Finance explains, “invigorate capital markets and boost investor confidence.” So might the CSRC’s decision to slow the pace of IPOs amid “recent market conditions” characterized by extreme price volatility.
Xi’s regulators are moving to limit share sales by top stakeholders when prices drop below IPO levels or net asset levels. They also cut margin ratios for leveraged trades.
“The scale, force and speed of the measures all beat expectations,” says analyst Pu Han at China International Capital Corp. “The increasing force of the policy tools will lift market confidence, amplifying the positive signal for the market.”
But not positive enough, it seems, as stocks extend losses. In the nearly five weeks since giant developer China Evergrande Group filed for bankruptcy, an even brighter spotlight has been trained on a troubled sector that can generate as much as 30% of China’s gross domestic product. It’s raised fresh questions about China’s growth-at-all-costs development model.
Foreign holdings of China’s equities and debt dropped by nearly US$189 billion from a December 2021 high through the end of the first six months of 2023. Beijing regulators recently telegraphed new steps to deepen capital markets, even soliciting advice from investors including BlackRock Inc. and Bridgewater Associates.
“The weak growth picture is now causing markets to position once again for a yuan devaluation, even though the historical record argues strongly against this possibility and trade-weighted yuan has actually been rising,” says economist Robin Brooks at the Institute of International Economics.
For now, Brooks doubts that’ll happen. “China tried repeatedly to devalue its currency against the dollar in the course of 2015 and 2016. Those attempts proved deeply counterproductive, because capital flight sharply tightened financial conditions, the opposite of what devaluation is supposed to accomplish.”
Given abundant liquidity and sizable debt overhang, Brooks says, “the potential for capital flight is still very much alive, so that devaluation – almost a decade later – still isn’t an option as a cyclical stimulus tool. That said, markets’ growth worries are overdone.”
China, Brooks notes, does face medium-term growth challenges, but recent weakness – especially on the export side – reflects a shift in global demand away from goods and back to services, a cyclical unwind of Covid distortions. “As such,” he concluded, “domestic policy easing – not devaluation – should be sufficient.”
In recent days, the PBOC has shown a greater willingness to cut the amounts of cash banks must hold as reserves. On September 14, it cut the reserve requirement ratio by another 25 basis points. It is injecting liquidity into the banking system to support growth. On Monday alone, the PBOC conducted about US$26 billion of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8%.
Economist Carlos Casanova at Union Bancaire Privée thinks the PBOC will likely leave its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates on hold pending news from Washington. “We believe that PBOC may want to wait until after the Federal Reserve’s September meeting to deliver stimulus,” Casanova explains.
For now, the consensus view is for the Fed to leave rates on hold. But underlying data have been stronger than expected, so “we can’t exclude the risk of a potential 25 basis-point surprise in September,” Casanova says.
“Irrespective of what the Fed votes for,” Casanova says, “US rates should remain higher for longer and the PBOC will have better visibility after this week, enabling it to better calibrate the policy balance to effectively spur aggregate demand without exacerbating depreciatory pressures and stoking capital outflows.”
In general, though, the PBOC is reluctant to ease aggressively, worried it might just incentivize more bad behavior. That bet might now be paying off as Chinese data start to come in firmer than expected.
“All in all, this latest set of key economic data suggests that the risk of a deflationary spiral in China has abated by another notch,” says analyst Kelvin Wong at OANDA.
Analysts at Barclays Bank write that “we look for some downside to USD/CNY in the short run, given a slew of upside economic surprises and the PBOC’s continued effort to cap dollar/yuan upside.” They add that “daily fixings still record large deviations from the market consensus in favor of Chinese yuan strength, suggesting current spot levels still remain uncomfortable for the central bank.”
Still, Xi’s team must step up the pace of reforms to restore overseas investors’ trust in Chinese markets. Since 2013, Xi has pledged to let market forces play a “decisive” role in Beijing decision making. For all China’s promises, it’s still a buyer-beware market as opacity reigns.
In March, Xi entrusted the reform process to Premier Li, who’s since promised to accelerate the moves to diversify growth engines. One key priority is creating deeper and trusted capital markets so that households invest in stocks and bonds in addition to property.
Such retooling is needed to change the narrative that Chinese markets are underpinned by a developing economy with limited liquidity and hedging tools, a giant and opaque state sector and an immature credit-rating system that obscures risk and enables the chronic misallocation of capital.
An immediate challenge for Xi and Li is getting a handle on local governments. Namely, containing risks in the local government financing vehicles (LGFV) space. Beijing must balance defusing a potential liquidity crisis involving some US$9 trillion of off balance-sheet municipal debt with supporting growth. So far, Xi and Li have tried to do so without major public bailouts that might squander progress on reducing financial leverage.
A sudden rash of LGFV defaults could make today’s worries about developer Country Garden seem trivial. That could tip China’s $60 trillion financial system into ever greater turmoil.
In recent years, foreign investors wondered whether China might be facing a Lehman Brothers-like reckoning. Or, given the extreme opacity surrounding off-balance-sheet dealing, some have tried to view China’s risks through the lens of Enron Corp. A better frame of reference may be the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In some ways, the property-overhang dynamic plaguing China’s 2023 echoes Southeast Asia’s predicament 26 years ago. As top-heavy economies from Bangkok to Jakarta to Seoul hit a wall, investors fled, crashing currencies. That made dollar-denominated debt impossible to manage. Default rates exploded across the region.
China’s provinces face a similar problem as property markets that long drove local GDP and tax revenues crater. All this risks setting off any number of chain reactions that Xi and Li must act faster to avoid.
“A collapse in local government investment would be comparable to the economic impact of the crisis in the property market,” says Logan Wright, director of China markets research at Rhodium Group. As such, he adds, the “most important variable impacting” the second-biggest economy “will be the success or failure of local government debt restructuring.”
Clear progress could go a long way to restoring confidence among international money managers.
Since July, Xi and Li have been prodding municipal leaders to curb financial risks and leverage. Steps include allowing local government leaders to raise about $137 billion from bond sales to pay down LGFV debt levels. Beijing is also mulling having the PBOC channel liquidity to the most-at-risk LGFVs.
The trick is doing so without a return to the boom-and-bust cycles China has been trying to end.
“Massive new spending and/or lending now would make those asset price bubbles even worse,” explains William Hurst, a China development expert at the University of Cambridge. It might just “continue to crowd out consumption and more productive investments. And it would make it more difficult and costly down the road – maybe even prohibitively so – to do this again.”
The trouble with such “inflection points and critical junctures,” Hurst adds, is that “any really big macro-level change will be slower in coming and harder to see in real-time.”
Bo Chen, deputy managing partner at the Deloitte China Corporate Governance Center, says that “the effectiveness of the plan hinges on the government’s ability to balance political and professional interests and retain financial regulatory talent.”
Going forward, Chen adds, “all domestic and foreign financial institutions in China will face a comprehensive and increasingly stringent regulatory environment. It is essential for financial institutions to follow the lead of the regulatory regime reform, reshape and strengthen their corporate governance and be ready for the future.”
That’s why it’s vital for Xi and Li to do a better job of explaining the strategy and the timeline for modernizing the financial system – transparently and credibly. Such openness hasn’t been a hallmark of the Xi era. As Beijing pivots toward big-picture reforms, it’s high time it ensured that skittish global investors get the memo.
This year’s trip to China by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will take him to a country whose coming is just as uncertain as it was in later 1973, when Gough Whitlam made his first trip there.
After the demise of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, China was in the process of re-engaging with the rest of the world. On a single estimate, it currently ranks among the top five economies in the world along with the United States, Japan, Germany, and the UK.
Along the way, it has grown to be by far Australia’s top export consumer, accounting for 30 % of everything the nation sells and supplying 27 % of all imported goods and services.
However, its business is at a crossroads, just like Japan before it( which was Australia’s largest buyer prior to the rise of China ).
Unsettling similarities exist between China now and Japan in soon 1991.
Japan’s tremendous economic growth had been fueled by a combination of government investment, low-cost labor, and export-driven growth, as well as something else that wasn’t given enough credit at the time: steadily rising real estate prices.
Japan was plunged into what became known as its lost 10 when those rates crashed amid hills of debts. Despite extremely low interest rates, the market little expanded during this generation, which ended in a second lost decade during which it did so despite interest rate declines.
It is impossible to ignore some of the parallels between China now and Japan in the early 1990s.
Business debt: A rise in debt, both in the commercial sector and among regional governments, accompanied China’s rapid growth.
China faces a similar issue with state-owned businesses that currently continue to operate despite significant debt burdens and rely on government assistance, much like Japan did with ineffective” zombie companies” during its problems.
Economic institutions: Similar to Japan’s banking industry in the 1990s, China is heavily exposed to non-performing loans. Only through taxpayer-funded subsidies were some of Japan’s lenders able to survive.
Chinese annual economic expansion was scarcely less than 10 % from the 1990s to 2010. Since Covid, it has spent a significant portion of the time below 5 %, increasing the likelihood of goes toward zero, as Japan occasionally observed over the course of its lost ages.
Aging and declining populations: Due to limited immigration and the effects of the one-child policy in China and Japan, respectively, and a decrease in population that is well below replacement level, both countries’ populations are declining.
Since 1980, the percentage of the population in Japan who are 65 and older has increased from 8 % to 30 %. The percentage has increased from 4 % to 14 % in China.
In both situations, there is a greater investment of benefits to be invested due to the rising number of elderly citizens, but in both instances, reinvesting is frequently done aboard where the returns are frequently higher.
China may benefit greatly from Japan’s difficult experience, but it won’t be simple to put those lessons into practice.
China’s system of intertwined government and private entities poses the same threat to the market as cross-shareholdings did in Japan, where poor loans persisted for a much longer period of time than they should have.
The entire world is watching as China overcomes these difficulties. It has observed what occurred abroad.
The creation of this item was assisted by Richard Gruppetta, a former diplomat and business director to Tokyo.
Under a Creative Commons license, this essay has been republished from The Conversation. read the article in its entirety.
CHAI NAT: Sripai Kaeo-eam hastily cleared her fields and planted a new harvest in late August after finishing her most recent wheat harvest, disobeying the government’s advice to stop further grain sowing this year in order to conserve water.
The 58-year-old farmer in northern Chai Nat province said, pointing to her natural rice plants that were only a few feet high,” This crop is our hope.” The worldwide spike in rice costs, which is close to its highest level in about 15 years after India— the world’s largest exporter of the water-intensive rice — cut exports, is driving Ms. Sripai, who is attempting to pay off debts totaling more than 200,000 baht. Farmers in Thailand’s economic hinterland, which ranks as the second-largest rice exporter in the world, should be prepared to profit.
Instead, previously unreported state estimates showed a 14.5 % decrease in the amount of property used for grain production in August compared to the same quarter last year. Since 2020, the number has decreased every month. According to discussions with two experts and a review of state data, the nation’s centuries-old rice cultivation structure is under significant stress due to climate change, untenable farm debts, and an absence of innovation.
Debt-ridden producers are being squeezed by these pressure on the industry, which Reuters has detailed for the first time, despite receiving grants totaling tens of billions over the past decade.
According to the professionals, the handouts were intended to increase agricultural study spending, which negatively impacted performance. According to government data, numerous land people are financially strapped after borrowing to pay for their crops, with debt today spanning decades.
According to agricultural expert Somporn Isvilanonda, a decrease in cultivated land may reduce grain production, increasing food inflation after droughts in another important rice-producing nations and affecting billions of consumers who depend on the grain for their daily diet.
According to Krungsri Research, Thailand exported 7.7 million kilograms of polished grain to nations in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa in 2022.
According to Mr. Somporn, a senior fellow at the state-affiliated Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand( KNIT ),” the cultivated area is lower because of lack of rain and irrigated ocean.”
According to federal projections, the water scarcity is likely to get worse into 2024 as the dry El Nino climate phenomenon intensifies.
On August 29, 2023, a farmer in Chainat county counts his money after selling his rice to the mill.
Millions of farmers face not only their latest harvest but also a small window of opportunity to avoid living in debt-stricken poverty. According to Ms. Sripai, a fine crop could bring in prices that are off to double or triple that of most ages.
She explained that she was dreaming right then because India had stopped exporting.
The corn department of the government did not respond to inquiries from Reuters. & nbsp,
The heart of the land is rice. According to Krungsri, over five million homes are involved in the production of rice on just under half of the country’s land.
According to Mr. Somporn, successive governments have invested 1.2 trillion ringgit in value and income interventions for rice farmers over the past ten years.
However, he claimed that the government did not do enough to increase performance. Landowners” cannot take the opportunity to make grain ,” despite the current high prices. He continued by saying that the water shortage would cause output to decline by about 30 % over the following two growing seasons.
rainfall and loan
Hundreds of farmers and landowners protested in front of a state-run agricultural banks in Chai Nat, where they had waited the previous night to fulfill officials, in the sweltering morning of August.
At the lengthy meeting, 60-year-old Danai Saengthabthim tried to persuade representatives never to seize his property for failing to pay off debts that had accumulated over two generations.
He is currently pinning his hope for assistance on the novel alliance government. He claimed that the loan has simply continued to rise over period.
According to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, land confiscations from producers who accidentally default are not part of its policy.
Ms. Sripai and other local farmers visited Bangkok frequently to entrance the agriculture ministry even before the new government took business.
According to Ms. Sripai, who pays a rate of 6.875 % on her loan,” All the farmers in our group have debts.” & nbsp,” We incurred the debt in the face of droughts, flooding, and pests.”
On August 30, 2023, farmers congregate in front of a nearby Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to persuade officials never to seize the lands in Chai Nat state for defaulting on debts.
One of Asia’s highest house loan rates is that of Thailand. According to federal statistics, 66.7 % of all agricultural families were in debt in 2021, mostly as a result of farming-related activities. In his first scheme speech before parliament last month, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin stated that the government would work to raise farm incomes.
He added that there would also be a ban on some farm loans and that water management resources and innovations may be combined to enhance yields and find new markets for agricultural products. ” Farmers are at risk as a result of the extreme weather patterns brought on by the El Nino phenomenon ,” & nbsp
According to the Office of National Water Resources, this year’s rainfall was 18 % below average, and only 54 % of the total capacity of important reservoirs has been reached.
Experts predict a collapse in average grain yield and wider fluctuations in production as the effects of climate change will assuredly exacerbate the situation.
” Ensnared in our success.”
According to Nipon Poapongsakorn, an agrarian specialist at the Thailand Development Research Institute, the basis for the corn industry was laid in the late 19th century under the rule of King Chulalongkornam, who promoted free trade and agricultural and terrain changes.
Farmers were able to move to high-yielding varieties starting in the 1960s thanks to decades of investment in research and equipment, solidifying the nation’s status as the largest grain exporter at the time, according to KNIT Somporn.
He advised growing higher yielding varieties in irrigated places. Before former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra implemented a system in 2011 that paid grain farmers above market rates for their crop, governments mostly avoided market interventions, according to both experts.
According to Mr. Nipon, that action marked the beginning of a decade of freebies that stymied rice field output by leaving average produces per ra( 0. 4 acres ) lower than those of Bangladesh and Nepal. Due to her involvement in the program that cost the state billions of dollars, Yingluck was given an tribunal prison sentence for negligence. She has recently denied wrongdoing and ignored a representative’s request for comment.
On August 31, 2023, farmers in Chai Nat county harvest wheat in a field.
According to Mr. Nipon’s information, Thai producers produced 485 kilograms of grain per ray in 2018 compared to 752 pounds and 560 kg in Bangladesh and Nepal, both.
” We got trapped in our success ,” he said, emphasizing the decrease in rice research funding from 300 million baht a decade ago to the 120 million this year. ” Our supply is extremely low, and our grain selection is extremely old.”
Farmers may simply officially grow varieties that have government approval, and if they were to grow variants from other countries that might not be appropriate for cultivation in Thailand, they might have trouble finding buyers, according to Mr. Somporn.
According to the experts, nations like India and Vietnam have recently made sizable investments in research, surpassing the country in terms of efficiency and growing in the export market.
The earnings of the typical Thai farmer has decreased. According to government data, wheat growers made good gross profits from their first harvest in just three times over the past ten years.
The difficulties have increased in the decades since Ms. Sripai followed her home into the grain fields, but the current prices present a unique opportunity.
She sat in front of the dilapidated wooden tower where she lives and said,” We’re hoping we is clear our debt.” ” We’re crossing our fingers ,” she said.
ReutersPolice have detained employees of the money management system of troubled property developer Evergrande in the southwestern city of Shenzhen.
However, it was announced on Friday that a newly formed state-owned underwriter would take over the company’s insurance division.
Evergrande is at the center of a issue that has gripped the real estate sector in China since 2021.
Shenzhen Nanshan District Police Bureau reported on Saturday that” lately, public safety organizations took criminal mandatory measures against Du and another suspected criminals at Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co.”
Other than the man who was only identified as Du, no additional information was provided regarding the number of people who were detained, their identities, or the possible charges they might encounter.
Police added that the situation is still being looked into and that owners could complain to the authorities.
Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co. was founded in 2015 and has its headquarters in Shenzhen. It is a wholly-owned company.
Du Liang is Evergrande Financial Wealth Management’s public administrator, according to his LinkedIn profile. The BBC was unable to confirm whether he was one of the people being held by the authorities.
When the BBC asked Evergrande for reply, he did not respond right away.
After recovering from a loss of 25 % in early trade, Evergrande shares were down by about 3 % at lunchtime on Monday.
Beijing has been making it harder and harder for real estate developers to obtain funds since 2020.
Evergrande, once one of China’s largest corporations, had amassed debts totaling more than$ 300 billion(£ 242 billion ) as it grew quickly.
After defaulting on its debt and suffering significant losses, it is now attempting to rebuild its company.
Another well-known Chinese real estate developers, such as Country Garden and Sino-Ocean, have had trouble making payments on their debts.
The real estate sector in China is a significant component of the second-largest economy in the world.
Some experts worry that the sector’s problems could threaten to weaken the market and spread to other financial markets around the world.
For more than two decades, Beijing has also been cracking down on alleged financial business problem.
HONG KONG: Following the arrest of several of the debt-ridden company’s employees in China on Monday( Sept 18 ), shares of troubled developer China Evergrande Group fell 25 % as markets opened in Hong Kong. Early morning trading saw Evergrande’s share price fall to HK$ 0.47, the lowest level inContinue Reading
HONG KONG: After twice avoiding default at the last minute earlier this month, embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden must pay US$ 15 million in interest linked to an offshore bond by Monday’s ( Sep 18 ) deadline. The No. 1 exclusive developer in the nation will have 30 daysContinue Reading
The Seri Ruam Thai Party’s head and a Pheu Thai supporter, Pol Gen Sereepisuth Teemeeyaves, is believed to possess swallowed the pain caused when the latter removed him from the government line-up in return for his commitment.
The previous police chief has a strong attachment for Pheu Thai, and this affection was especially clear when the government was being formed.
Seri Ruam Thai’s length decreased to a tenth of what it had been following the general election. Seri Ruam Thai won the election with Pol Gen Sereepisuth serving as its wayward MP thanks to the newly implemented single-ballot system.
Seri Ruam Thai, which is loosely translated as” Seri Consolidating Nation,” is Pol Gen Sereepisuth’s pen name.
The party remained a part of the Pheu Thai-led so-called pro-democracy empire during the preceding Prayut Chan-o-cha administration.
Much renowned for his straightforwardness and no-nonsense, Pol Gen Sereepisuth had been a vocal opponent of the previous administration.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth hailed what many believed would be the restoration of total democratic principle when Move Forward and Pheu Thai, the two small” friend” in the pro-democracy empire station, emerged from the vote as the biggest and next biggest parties, respectively.
He welcomed what appeared to be the Move Forward Party’s( MFP ) impending ascent to power.
But, in a shocking turn of events, the MFP granted Pheu Thai the authority to lead the formation of the government after the Senate rejected Pita Limjaroenrat’s pay for prime minister.
The transfer irritated MFP supporters in the wrong way. Pheu Thai and MFP followers shortly found themselves at each other’s necks, with the latter referring to the former as a traitor. Diehards in Pheu Thai retaliated by calling the MFP bitter idiots.
Important players insisted that the two parties were still speaking, but they were drifting off, and it was impossible to conceal the relationship’s flaw.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth turned his artillery on the MFP amid all of this.
He asserted that a particular MFP MP was an ex-con and shouldn’t have been permitted to run for office in the House after an appointment with an well-known television talk show.
Nakhonchai Khunnarong, the Rayong Constituency 3 MP, served as the representative. Nakhonchai acknowledged that he had served time in prison but insisted that the offense did not prevent him from running for office.
Following Nakhonchai’s after resignation as an MP, Pongsathorn Sornpetnarin won the chair in a by-election held on September 10.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth added that Pheu Thai was given free rein to put together a fresh state during the formation of the government by the MFP.
Pheu Thai proceeded to dismiss the MFP and move to suitors from the union of parties under the previous administration after being reminded by the Senate that a coalition with it would never win enough support in the middle House for an aspirant to the position of prime minister.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth realized as the new partnership took shape that he would not be appointed to the government. Additionally, he was personally experiencing how it felt to be” dropped.”
Some critics believed that Pol Gen Sereepisuth, who was now receiving the same care the MFP received from Pheu Thai, had hardly taken longer for fate to catch up with him.
The partnership was allocating government seats, so Pol Gen Sereepisuth’s lack was noted.
On August 30, he suddenly broke his silence to respond to a media statement stating that, despite continuing to serve as party leader, the MP had resigned from his position.
Although he categorically denied feeling let down after being turned down for a cabinet position, the good cabinet appointee was openly criticized by him.
He declared that his work to aid in the formation of a new coalition was complete and that keeping social office holders in check would now be his top priority in what was seen as the first indication of hostility toward the Pheu Thai-led government.
Seri Ruam Thai is completely to be an opposition party because he is not a partnership companion, according to an observer in politics.
However, given that the” wound” Pol Gen Sereepisuth inflicted on the MFP was still recent, it would require reconciliation with them, which is not likely to happen anytime soon.
When I voted for Srettha Thavisin to become prime minister on August 22, my goal to assist Pheu Thai and become the ruling party was complete. Mr. Srettha receives parliament’s approval to become prime minister on August 22.
The following morning, he said,” I submitted my resignation notice as a record MP.”
Mangkorn Yontrakul, the group secretary-general, may succeed Pol Gen Sereepisuth in parliament, according to Wirat Worassirin, a former party listing MP and close ally of the politician.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth claimed that he was responsible for assisting Pheu Thai in assembling the new government alongside its former political rival, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, the head of the Palang Pracharath Party( PPRP ).
He insisted he wasn’t referring to the new government appointees, comparing the competition for cabinet positions to dogfights for meals.
Pheu Thai was not offered a seat in the cabinet in exchange for Pol Gen Sereepisuth’s support during the formation of the government, he continued.
He added that he left his position as an MP out of sorrow over not being offered a position in the cupboard.
Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwon, who was appointed a deputy prime minister and minister for natural sources and the atmosphere, was never spared in his censure, though.
Pol Gen Sereepisuth expressed his confusion over the inclusion of someone with no prior experience in governmental job in the cupboard.
Pol Gen Patcharawat was previously fired from his position as head of the national authorities. Wissanu Krea-ngam, a former deputy prime minister, asserted that this negated the departure because he had been reinstated by the now-dissolved National Council for Peace and Order.
Pol Gen Patcharawat is the younger brother of Gen Prawit and the PPRP’s general advisor.
Now that a certification test by the government secretary-general company failed to keep the former police key out of the cabinets, Pol Gen Sereepisuth has stated he will keep an eye on topoisomerase Gen Patcharawat himself.
Moment to float or sink
Earlier this year, the coalition government’s policies were made public to parliament by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, signaling the start of the administration.
The Pheu Thai Party’s premier 10, 000 baht modern handout scheme was the subject of a barrage of questions from MPs and senators during the two-day debate, many of which focused on the top, who also serves as the fund minister.
Srettha: Seeks a boost in confidence
Every Thai person 16 years of age and older is eligible to receive a one-time handbook to buy necessities from local stores within four kilometers of their registered address under the plan, which is estimated to cost 560 billion baht to fund.
The online currency must be used within six months and cannot be converted into cash.
The government claims that the digital budget scheme would be clear and identifiable using blockchain technology.
Where the authorities will find the funds to finance the system, which is anticipated to be implemented early next year, is the main concern of the lawmakers regarding the ruling side’s digital wallet policy.
In fact, the modern wallet scheme, which was Pheu Thai’s major election promise, is being questioned outside, with political analysts, tech experts, and economic experts all offering their own opinions.
The plan is unpopular with a number of financial experts. They advise the authorities to modify this plan so that it only targets those who are in need because doing so would reduce the amount of money available to finance the plan and give it more money to carry out other programs if necessary. Additionally, the government intends to reduce energy costs and suspend loan repayments for producers and SMEs.
Tech experts contend that unless the government is committed to creating a new electronic payment system, bitcoin technology may not be useful in this situation.
The” Pao Tang” e-wallet app, which is already widely used by millions of users, would be a better choice.
Analysts believe that the Pheu Thai Party must implement the online budget scheme despite criticism because it is thought to be the only way to revive the party’s waning popularity.
Despite being expensive, the program does not increase employment opportunities or lower earnings inequality. According to Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political science professor at Sukhothani Thammathirat Open University, there is also the possibility that it will have issues during application.
However, the program has the potential to quickly resurrect the economy, which could improve the standing of the ruling party after it forms a coalition with the so-called conventional camp.
The Move Forward Party ( MFP ), which won the May 14 general election, was abandoned by the party, which now faces a crisis of public trust after many voters accuse Pheu Thai of betraying them.
To win back the public’s trust and support its decision to drop the MFP, Pheu Thai needs this scheme. According to Mr. Yutthaporn, the ruling party also has a number of nationalist plans with which it hopes to win back help.
The plan to sand off the” CEO rulers” as part of a decentralization policy and the policy to upgrade service under the general healthcare scheme to make it more suitable for people to receive health care services are the two most important ones.
These two plans are emblematic of the policies that enabled the now-disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, led by Thaksin Shinawatra, to achieve resounding successes. However, Mr. Yutthaporn asserts that because the political climate has changed, what worked secret two decades ago may not do so today.
Pheu Thai is unable to comprehend the space. People strive for not only” eatable” politics but also for politics that builds a better world, he said, so it doesn’t realize it lost the general election to the MFP.
When the Srettha leadership is not in charge of the agriculture and energy ministries, which are supposed to address farmers’ issues and the urgent issue of high energy prices, the analyst is skeptical that it will be able to fully restore confidence and triumph.
He claimed that the group’s restrictions are reflected in the selection of cabinet chairs. Capt. Thamanat Prompow, the secretary-general of the Palang Pracharath Party, was given the investment for agriculture minister, and Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, head of The United Thai Nation Partie, received the energy position.
Tourism, which is the nation’s main source of income and is run by the party in charge of the Tourism Ministry, offers Pheu Thai the various hope of reliving his former glory. However, its advantages are transient, and the group’s policy lacks a clear direction, he claimed.
