More savings bonds

Written by changthai11 on Saturday, September 13th, 2008

.IN Brief

More savings bonds

INVESTING :Bangkok Bank will offer 664.36 million baht worth of government savings bonds to te public from Sept 15-24.

The three-year public savings bonds will pay annual interest of 4.65%. The issue has been increased in size from 500 million baht in anticipation of strong market demand.

The bonds are open for subscription at Bangkok Bank branches nationwide by individual investors, foundations and non-profit organisations with a minimum investment of 10,000 baht.

For further details, contact Bualuang Phone at 1333 or see http://www.bangkokbank.com.

Credit up 1.13%

BANKING :Outstanding personal credit at local banks totalled 216 billion baht at the end of July, up 2.425 billion or 1.13% from June, according to the Bank of Thailand.

Personal credit accounts rose by 0.77% for the month or by 85,618 accounts to 11.19 million at the end of July. Commercial banks reported a 1.84% increase in personal lending in July, compared with a 0.91% increase for non-bank lenders and a 1.11% decline in outstanding credit for foreign banks.

Non-performing loans, defined as personal loans past-due more than three months, totalled 9.33 billion baht, with 4.22 billion held by local banks, 1.57 billion by foreign banks and 3.5 billion by non-bank consumer finance companies.

Local banks safe

FINANCE :Thai banks have largely “decoupled” from the global credit crisis, according to Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Watanagase.

Dr Tarisa said exposure to collateralised debt obligations accounted for just 0.26% of total Thai bank assets in 2007 and had now been “completely sold off”.

In an interview with the Oxford Business Group, the central bank governor acknowledged that the US sub-prime crisis would have an indirect impact on the Thai economy.

But exports are expected to remain robust, helping support growth. “I believe that unless the global economy dips below what we anticipated, the impact on the Thai economy will be manageable,” Dr Tarisa said.

The Oxford Business Group is developing the upcoming The Report: Thailand 2009 investment guide, a comprehensive guidebook on the Thai economy for foreign investors.

Parts firms tour

GM AUTOMOBILES :More than 80 auto parts manufacturers and suppliers recently visited the General Motors assembly plant in Rayong as part of the matchmaking programme under the Board of Investment Unit for Industrial Linkage Development (Build).

In order to form closer links with local suppliers, GM executives outlined the company’s automobile parts requirements and procurement policies and briefed visitors on its quality policy to enable local manufacturers to gear up their production to meet the standards of GM.

14-day yield 3.7%

DEBT MARKET :The Bank of Thailand yesterday sold 70 billion baht worth of 14-day bonds for a weighted average accepted yield of 3.72729%. Accepted bid yields ranged from 3.718% to 3.73%, with the bid coverage ratio 1.78 times.