21 Sep 2022
Thai Economy
Due to rising vegetarian food prices in line with higher production costs, and floods damaging agricultural crops that are the main ingredients of vegetarian food, especially vegetables and tofu which typically see price hikes during the Kin Jae festival, the number of Bangkok residents participating in this year’s festival would not increase, even though the COVID-19 situation has improved. Additionally, they would reduce their number of days of participation so as to control spending budgets for vegetarian food....Read more
20 Sep 2022
International Economy
It is expected that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise its policy rate by another 0.75 percent at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting slated for September 20-21, 2022 as the US headline inflation rate for August was still higher than what was expected by the markets although it fell for two consecutive months. Meanwhile, core inflation, excluding highly volatile food and energy prices, has begun to soar again, suggesting broad-based and increased inflationary pressures even as energy costs, particularly oil have declined. ...Read more
19 Sep 2022
China has been severely affected by a heat wave and drought. Although the situation has eased in some areas, the heat wave crisis may persist and affect crops that are to be harvested during the remainder of this year. This would boost imports into China, especially rice, wheat and maize....Read more
14 Sep 2022
Services
The convenience store is another retail segment that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 1-2 years. In 2022, we at KResearch, however, expect that turnover in the convenience store business will resume growth of roughly 13-15 percent YoY, thanks to the low base of 2021....Read more
29 Aug 2022
Industry
KResearch views that an increase in the average daily minimum wage by 5 percent starting October 1, 2022 will affect industrial costs in the last quarter of this year and into next year. This may lead to an average cost increase of around 0.5 percent and a decrease in operating profit by an average of 4.6 percent....Read more
22 Jul 2022
Although consumer purchasing power is being pressured by the high cost of living and uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, the nursing home business may continue to perform relatively well during 2022 as it is one of the healthcare services that are necessary for many seniors/patients. Additionally, the consumer segments that use nursing home services are those having adequate purchasing power as an average service fee is relatively high in line with the standards and expertise of related personnel, including the convenience in transferring patients to hospitals if more sophisticated treatments are needed or in case of emergency. ...Read more
13 Sep 2022
Financial Institutions
KResearch views that digital personal loan market, according to the Bank of Thailand’s guidelines on the use of alternative data for credit analysis in loan approval process, is likely to see “gradual growth” for 2022. As evidenced, digital personal loan outstanding is at approximately THB 7.92-8.5 billion, representing only 1 percent of total outstanding retail loans in the system....Read more
8 Aug 2022
It is expected that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will raise its policy rate by 0.25 percent to 0.75 percent at the upcoming meeting. Amid increased inflationary pressure and steady recovery seen in the Thai economy, the MPC may gradually speed up its policy rate hikes ahead. ...Read more
26 Jul 2022
Sustainable finance has seen rapid growth worldwide. In 2021, sustainability debt instruments were valued at USD 929,700 million, or 10x growth over the past five years, while sustainability loans amounted to USD 716,561 million, or 7x growth from 2018. ...Read more