Thai hoteliers and tourism operators are set to meet this week to discuss the financial impact of the recent flood crisis. Bankers are expecting that the severe flooding in many parts of the country will cut this years economic growth rate by nearly half a percentage point. Thai Hotels Association President Prakit Chinamornpong said the recent widespread flooding, particularly in the Hat Yai district of the South’s Songkhla province, has caused severe damages to hotel and tourism operators. Prakit said that it will take at least a week before everything is back to normal. During the floods, the hotel businesses lost around 50 million baht in revenue per day.

See the original post here:
KBANK Estimates Flood Damage at 30 Bln

On the demand side, the importance of external demand can be fully appreciated by recognizing that the bulk of inventories in Thailand are primarily inputs and finished goods for the export-oriented manufacturing. In the fourth quarter of 2009, for example, net exports and the change in inventories contributed 44 percent of the quarterly growth.
However, the upside is limited due to political and regulatory uncertainty, including from possible political violence and the Map Ta Phut court case. The government investment plan is proceeding at a slow pace, but public investment should contribute to growth.

In Vietnam, households use to held their savings in cash or real estate. With the opening of the stock market, you have seen a tremendous shift of funds into the capital market.
The 2009 market rally reflects the perception that valuations are about long-term potential, and that political crises in Thailand rarely have a dramatic impact on the fundamentals of the economy. If we look at the EV/EBITDA multiples of the oil and gas sector, for example, valuations are still low compared to regional peers : this is partly a reflection of regulatory risks and political instability in Thailand.

In 1972 the Government took a further step in this direction by amending the “Announcement of the Executive Council No. 58 on the Control of Commercial Undertakings Affecting Public Safety and Welfare”. The changes extended Government control and regulation over the operations of finance and securities companies, which until then had operated fairly freely. Following these amendments, in May 1974, long-awaited legislation establishing “The Securities Exchange of Thailand” (SET) was enacted. This was followed by revisions to the Revenue Code at the end of the year, allowing the investment of savings in the capital market. By 1975 the basic legislative framework was in place and on April 30, 1975, “The Securities Exchange of Thailand” officially started trading. On January 1, 1991 its name was formally changed to “The Stock Exchange of Thailand” (SET).