• 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

  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

  Bangkok on the road to nowhere

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 26/02/2017

  » The past week saw lots of interesting stories, but the one that caught my attention was about the traffic jams. Best of all was the reaction by our government on the reasons for the rise in congestion on the streets in Bangkok.

• 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

  Seeing red as road signals go manual

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 08/09/2016

  » I do not know if it is just my pure bad luck or if it is the entire city that has been in gridlock over the past few weeks.

• OPINION

  Yes-men lay 'Prem model' trap for PM

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 01/09/2016

  » Over the past week we have been reading a lot about how the so-called "Prem model" is a possible option for coup leader and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as he contemplates his future after the next election.

• OPINION

  No solution in sight to our traffic woes

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 25/08/2016

  » I don't know how many of you had a chance to read a report this week that said the busiest road in Bangkok was Vibhavadi Rangsit Road.The gateway to the North and the Northeast, Vibhavadi Rangsit sees an average of 158,711 vehicles per day.

• OPINION

  After the vote, economic limbo beckons

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 04/08/2016

  » As the nation holds its breath for the outcome of the constitutional referendum on Sunday, some of the government's think tanks are already preparing for the possibility of a dramatic slowdown in economic activity after the vote.

• OPINION

  The dangers of daily life in the capital

  News, Umesh Pandey, Published on 15/07/2016

  » The front-page picture in our paper yesterday showing how much damage a 20-minute fire, that started randomly at On Nut BTS station, could cause took many of us by surprise and I for one am not buying the statement that the construction quality of the station's elevator was "standard".

• OPINION

  The lessons of Brexit

  Asia focus, Umesh Pandey, Published on 27/06/2016

  » The world held its breath last week for one of the most widely anticipated events in years as nearly 33 million Britons went to the polling booths to decide on the fate of their country and possibly the 60-year old European Union.

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