Thailand welcomes 17 million foreign visitors in first half of 2017
Seventeen million foreign tourists visited Thailand in the first half of 2017, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
— NBT World
Banks warn economy could feel labour law, policy rate sting
Investment banks are maintaining a stable forecast on Thailand’s economic growth outlook but warn turbulence looms ahead, with the Bank of Thailand’s fiscal policy rate and last month’s labour law shake-up the key factors to watch.
— Bangkok Post
Govt brushes off call to test the quality of rice stocks
THE NATIONAL Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has brushed aside requests for a special order to open up warehouses to verify rice quality to see if it is still good for human consumption.
— The Nation
BoT maintains this year’s GDP growth at 3 5%
The Bank of Thailand (BoT) expects the country’s economy to grow 3.5% this year despite slow recovery.
— NBT World
How not to make a regulation
In a world in which big and small companies are quick to cry foul even against a good regulation, policymakers face an uphill battle in attempts to catch up with technological change. Regulation is still a dirty word in today’s business lexicon.
— Bangkok Post
PM assures no foreign tour guides are allowed to work here
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has reiterated that the government has no policy or intention whatsoever to allow foreign tour guides to work in the kingdom as tour guiding as a profession reserved for Thai citizens.
— Thai PBS
BAAC push for 1m smart farmers
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) plans to help upgrade 1 million small farmers into smart farmers within three years in an attempt to help them escape from poverty in a sustainable way.
— Bangkok Post
Customs seizes 10 million baht worth of smuggled goods in Mukdaharn
The Mukdahan Customs Office has recently seized a truckload of smuggled goods worth about 10 million baht.
— NBT World
High hopes for Thai bomb robots
The Defence Technology Institute (DTI) says its counter-improvised explosive devices (IED) robots will be fully operational within a year, despite the agency’s director expressing caution over their present capabilities.
— Bangkok Post
A money lender plotted and killed eight people in Krabi massacre: Pol Gen Chakthip
The national police chief on Sunday fingerpointed at a local money lender for being the plotter and gunman who killed, execution-style, village headman Worayut Sanglang and seven his family members at their house in Krabi’s Ao Luek district on July 11.
— Thai PBS
Stakes raised on Chinese buyers
Chinese buyers’ growing interest in Thai real estate is attracting the attention of local developers feeling the impact of the stagnant property market in Thailand.
— Bangkok Post
NBTC plans spectrum recall
The national telecom regulator has started drafting regulatory conditions for recalling unused spectrum and compensation regime through an auction process.
— Bangkok Post
Nakhon Si Thammarat to launch over 1,000 sustainable agricultural projects
Nakhon Si Thammarat Agricultural Extension Office has signed memorandums of understanding with 23 districts to carry out over 1,000 sustainable agricultural projects based on King Rama IX’s self-reliance philosophy.
— NBT World
Feature photo John Le Fevre
Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
Thailand morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Thailand news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

John Le Fevre
He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.
He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.
In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.
Prior to AEC News Today he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.
In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.

Latest posts by John Le Fevre (see all)
- COVID-19 in Asean: update for July 26 — 16 mln case barrier breached, Vietnam records community transmission – July 26, 2020
- COVID-19 in Asean: update for July 25 — new high for daily infections, 16 mln infection barrier to break today – July 25, 2020
- COVID-19 in Asean: update for July 24 — Asean tops 230,000 cases, nudges 90,000 active – July 24, 2020
- Thailand morning news for July 24 – July 24, 2020