Economy

It’s only when enough individuals become immune to the disease to stop transmission, either through a vaccine or direct contact, can COVID-19’s danger to lives and livelihoods solve fully. Before then, policymakers seeking to revive their economies will have public-health programs powerful enough to identify and respond to incidents. But it’s a different face since Malaysia’s economy in 2020 could …

State-owned electricity firm PLN has announced its intention to supply Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) on 450-volt ampere (VA) contracts with six months of free electricity as part of the government’s latest expansion of social aid. According to PT PLN (Persero) president director Zulkifli Zaini, the company has started gathering data of around 500,000 pre-paid customers from small businesses …

KUALA LUMPUR – The COVID-19 global pandemic and the resulting Movement Control Order to contain the disease could potentially push people to become poorer in 2020. The COVID-19 global pandemic however benefitted the industry of e-commerce and companies selling masks, surgical gloves, ventilators, personal protective equipments and supplying boxes for food deliveries. On the downside, the effects of after almost …

The current downward trend is happening in global crude oil prices. But this not following by the Indonesian government which hinted that retail fuel prices for certain types of fuel (JBT), subsidized fuel, and specially designed fuels (JBKP) would not be lowered. The decision was noted in the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Decree No. 83 K/12/MEM/2020 inked by Minister …

The Energy Minister, Sontirat Sontijirawong, says a meeting of the cabinet ministers today acknowledged measures to reduce electricity bills for some 22 million households for three months, from March to May this year, with a budget of about 23 billion baht. The Ministry of Energy resolved that households with a power meter size up to five amperes will be able …

The Thai Trade Centre (TTC) in Hong Kong said the price of Thai jasmine rice in the city has risen after people began hoarding supplies, while the import of Thai rice to Hong Kong rose by 2 to 3 tonnes in the first quarter of the year. Chanunpat Pisanapipong, executive director of TTC in Hong Kong, said the pandemic and …

The Thai Government will decide later this month whether to ease any of the economic restrictions in light of the decline in new coronavirus cases, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). Thai Government spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said a decision regarding the curfew and business closures will depend on the situation ahead. The Thai government imposed a nationwide …

Thailand’s gold shops are running out of cash because so many people want to sell ornaments, jewelry and bars amid an economic slowdown. “I’m asking people to sell gradually, not in large amounts, as shops may face a cash crunch,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said in a briefing Wednesday in Bangkok. The yellow metal remains a popular way for Thais …

The Energy Ministry confirmed the private sector’s call for it to reduce the price of electricity by 5 per cent for large enterprises and is looking into what can be done to help them, Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong has said. He added that initially the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) had told the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and the …

Somchai Jitsuchon, research director at TDRI, an independent think-tank, is pondering the resumption of city life when the nationwide curfew and lockdown ends on April 30. He said many people are sceptical that cities will return to full functioning after the month of lockdown, as it may take longer to get the Covid-19 pandemic under control. Lockdown is a tool …