• BUSINESS

  New financial frontiers

  Asia focus, Umesh Pandey, Published on 18/01/2016

  » The emerging markets of Asean will be the key growth drivers for Group Lease Plc, one of Thailand's leading hire-purchase firms, which expects its earnings to surge this year despite the gloomy regional and global outlook.

• BUSINESS

  Lifelong learner

  Asia focus, Umesh Pandey, Published on 11/01/2016

  » Thailand may have lost a lot of stature and credibility on the world stage in recent years, but one of the world's most eminent economists believes it is still a country with some impressive social achievements that even developed economies could emulate.

• NEWS

  Beware of the bull

  Spectrum, Umesh Pandey, Published on 21/01/2018

  » 'Sell your house and buy stocks," a banker told Spectrum over dinner a few months ago.

• OPINION

  Consumers still lack confidence

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 03/09/2017

  » For those readers who have not read the business stories over the past week, let me recap some of the interesting issues that were written about by our intrepid business writers. Stories such as the Revenue Department coming out to openly state that their tax collection for the first 10 months of the fiscal year (October 2016 to July 2017) was 4% below the target came as a shock to many. The reason given for the shortfall was the lower collection of value added tax (VAT) that you and I pay for consuming.

• OPINION

  Time to ease 'I'm the boss' attitude

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 02/07/2017

  » Waking up on Tuesday for most Thais was just another day but by evening there was a whole lot of social media buzz on a decision by the cabinet passed earlier in the day -- the decision to build a Bangkok Observatory.

• OPINION

  Small firms' debts point to problems

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 23/07/2017

  » Over the past week data coming out of the government and the private sector are showing signs that could be worrisome in the medium to longer term for the country. Rising household debt, increasing non-performing loans among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and strengthening of the baht are all compounding the problems.

• OPINION

  PM's magic wand now redundant

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 09/04/2017

  » Thailand's 20th constitution was promulgated on Thursday with a fanfare that most Thais have not seen in their lifetime. It was a much-needed lifeline for the never-ending promises of the military junta to bring the country back to a democratic system.

• OPINION

  All aboard the train to Thailand 4.0

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 05/02/2017

  » To the world's joy, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) has finally gone online for its booking and passenger seat selections -- a small step, one may think, but a giant stride for the antiquated bogies running around Thailand.

• OPINION

  Shutting down BRT a poor decision

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 09/02/2017

  » For the nearly 24,000 commuters of Bangkok who rely on the Bangkok Rapid Transit (BRT) system to go to work and back, the news is bad. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), citing a big financial loss, has decided to terminate the BRT service as early as April.

• OPINION

  A tourism hub mustn't make life so difficult

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 25/11/2016

  » Over the past few days, the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has taken some interesting steps. And a lot of them are new measures aimed at possibly boosting Thailand's status as a tourism hub, be it for health care, long-term stays or even general tourists.

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