Economy and commerce

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today downgraded the Government of Laos’s issuer rating to Caa2 from B3 and changed the outlook to negative. This concludes the review for downgrade initiated on 19 June 2020. The decision to downgrade the rating to Caa2 reflects Moody’s assessment that ...

The UK Government and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), forming a strategic partnership on financial services to support Thailand’s inclusive economic recovery and green growth in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under the MoU signed on 7 ...

Development should be Myanmar’s number one priority. In the lifetime of today’s children, it has the potential to become a developed country. Combined with measures to fight inequality, finding the right path to development is critical for a successful transition to democracy. It’s also critical ...

On August 1, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucheld a working session in Can Tho with 13 Mekong Delta provinces and cities on removing difficulties for production and business activities and boosting the region’s economy. This is the fourth working session of the government leader with Mekong ...

Vietnam has banned the import of wildlife and wildlife products to reduce the risk of new pandemics. The move also bans wildlife markets for such items, including online sales. Vietnam has previously been accused of turning a blind eye to the sale of products such as pangolin ...

The Thai Rice Exporters Association cut its projection for 2020 rice exports from 7.5 million tonnes to 6.5 million tonnes, the lowest in a decade. Thailand shipped 3.14 million tonnes of rice in the first six months of this year, down 32.7% from the same period ...

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc today issued a new directive with urgent and powerful measures to restrict wildlife trade and consumption, and reduce further pandemic risk.   With immediate effect, the directive (29/CT-TTg) bans imports of live wild animals and wildlife products, strictly eliminates any wildlife ...

A concessional loan worth 1.45 billion baht to help Myanmar improve its electricity system has been approved by the government, according to an official. Rachada Dhnadirek, deputy government spokeswoman, on Tuesday said the loan is part of an initiative to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries. The Neighbouring ...

Activists campaigning against wildlife crime say Thailand could be a global leader in stopping pandemics by further cracking down on and ceasing to be a gateway for the illegal wildlife trade. They believe this would help stop animal-to-human disease transmission. They said scientific information has shown that ...

Thailand’s economy is expected to be impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic, shrinking by at least 5 percent in 2020 and taking more than two years to return to pre-COVID-19 GDP output levels, according to the World Bank’s latest Thailand Economic Monitor, released today. The COVID-19 pandemic ...