Giant mall hopes to draw high-end foreign visitors. The Siam Paragon Shopping Complex had its grand opening yesterday amid hopes that the new development will attract more high-end spenders to the Kingdom. Although less than half of the 350 retailers opened their shops, Kriengsak Tantiphipop, chief marketing officer of Siam Paragon Development Co Ltd – the operator of the upmarket complex – said he was delighted with the event.

BOT chief sees current account in surplus in 4-5 yrs

The current account should return to surplus in the next four to five years if the price of crude oil falls to US$40 (Bt1,650) per barrel and the government’s policy to boost savings works, Bank of Thailand Governor MR Pridiyathorn Devakula said yesterday. Speaking at a seminar entitled “How to Manage Money amid Upward Interest Rates”, Pridiyathorn said his forecast took into account the government’s very large infrastructure projects.

Malls make bid for duty-free status

Siam Paragon Development Co, operator of the newly opened high-end shopping draw Siam Paragon, plans to make the complex a duty-free shopping mall within three months in a bid to attract international tourists and compete with luxury stores in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Piracy ‘is a brake on IT industry’

The IT business in Thailand could reach US$4.5 billion (Bt186 billion) by 2009 if the country reduced software piracy by 10 percentage points to 69 per cent over the period, according to research results released yesterday.

Toyota’s new plant to produce 100,000 vehicles per year by 2007

Toyota Motor Thailand has started construction of its third plant in the country, at Ban Pho, Chachoengsao, which will make Thailand the biggest production country in Asia other than Japan.

LATE NEWS: Stock market

Foreign net buys hit Bt13 billion

SET: Some rehab stocks face delisting by March 2006

Twelve unlikely to meet debt deadline

BOT credit, loan limits up for discussion

The Finance Ministry will discuss with the Bank of Thailand loosening the central bank’s rules governing eligibility for credit cards and loans.

Ministry moves to curb gold imports

The Commerce Ministry has introduced urgent measures to control imports of gold and is considering new laws to manage Thailand’s internal gold-trading system.