Bangkok Post
Blockchain eyed for palm oil
The Energy Ministry has ordered the Energy Business Department to discuss with Thai oil traders the prospect of using blockchain to facilitate palm oil trade.A blockchain system would cut out the middleman between palm planters and palm oil mills, in theory allowing planters to sell ...
Lamonphet Apisitniran
Q3 rebound eyed from relief boost
Thai GDP in the first and second quarters of 2020 faces a sharp year-on-year decline due to the global economic slowdown, widespread drought and coronavirus impact.But prospects are expected to improve in the third quarter onwards, boosted by the 1-trillion-baht plan for cash handouts to ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Northeast residents oppose 6th Laos dam project
Thai residents living in eight northeastern provinces along the Mekong River are opposed to Laos’ plans to construct a new hydropower dam on the Mekong River over fears it will threaten the river system, where seasonal flooding supports fisheries and regional agriculture.The protest comes as ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Data protection law delay to go before cabinet
A royal decree drafted to postpone the enforcement of most sections in the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) by a year will be tabled before the cabinet for approval next week, says the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry.The PDPA was published in the Royal ...
Suchit Leesa-Nguansuk
NCB: Lenders' NPL ratio rises to 8.1%
The National Credit Bureau’s 104 members saw an upsurge in non-performing loan (NPL) ratio to 8.1% at the end of March from 6.8% a year earlier as headwinds such as the coronavirus outbreak took hold, says the NCB.Bad loans for mortgages, auto and personal loans ...
Somruedi Banchongduang
SME debt scheme hampers loan access
The troubled debt restructuring (TDR) scheme offered to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was affected by subpar economic growth, a stumbling block for many firms in accessing additional lending as well as the central bank’s sponsored soft loans, says the head of the National Credit ...
Somruedi Banchongduang
Plastic piles up as pandemic sidelines pollution fight
Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags that Bangkok office worker Nicha Singhanoi hoped would cut back the waste that puts her country among the world’s top five choking the oceans with plastic.Then the coronavirus pandemic forced school closures and authorities ...
Community pantries help virus-hit needy
“Please feel free to take anything you need, and leave anything you can share.”A sign like the one posted above a shelf unit outside a Toyota Sure showroom on Mittraphap Highway in Muang district of Khon Kaen can now be seen in several locations in ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Second wave a worry, warn advisers
The nation must be ready to cope with a possible resurgence in Covid-19 cases if lockdown measures are eased, as expected, starting on May 17, the government’s pandemic advisory committee warned on Friday.“The government, business and ordinary citizens must be prepared for an uptick in ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Economic rehab plan en route
A 400-billion-baht borrowing plan intended for economic and social rehabilitation after the pandemic to strengthen the domestic economy will be added to the cabinet’s agenda next week, with the first batch expected to be doled out later this month.Rehabilitating the farming sector is crucial to ...
Wichit Chantanusornsiri