Banks' flood assistance takes many forms

Individuals and businesses affected by flooding have been looking to banks for extra help in terms of loans and eased conditions as they try to get back on their feet. 

But banks have also been actively offering non-financial assistance in many forms, with the enthusiastic involvement of their staff.

Bangkok Bank last week provided a space in front of its headquarters on Silom Road for an "Emergency Shopping Fair" flea market offering essential goods at special prices.

In partnership with more than 30 manufacturing customers and business allies, the market offered goods including bottled drinking water, eggs, canned sardines, rice, instant noodles, processed and frozen foods and medical supplies.

The bank plans to set up similar markets at other branches to help people obtain hard-to-find goods conveniently.

Benyapa Selanont, 45, a secretary with a private company, said she welcomed the chance to stock up, especially on canned foods. Her house in Lam Luk Ka in Pathum Thani has been submerged for a month.

Siam Commercial Bank, meanwhile, set up a kitchen in mid-October to cook food for flood victims. Earlier, the bank was using the meeting hall at its Ratchayothin head office as a large kitchen, but it had to be relocated to the evacuation centre at the Government Complex in Nonthaburi province after the flooding reached Ratchayothin.

The bank's kitchen prepares food for around 10,000 people per day, mainly Thai fast food. It also orders some meals from restaurants to be delivered to people in some locations. SCB expects to keep the kitchen going until mid-December and staff are encouraged to volunteer, said executive vice-president Ongorn Abhakorn na Ayutthaya.

Anpawee Laoritsayaporn, an SCB employee working in the kitchen, said it was a good opportunity to help others in a crisis. Her own house has been inundated but she says she is better off than many people because the bank has provided temporary accommodation for some of its staff affected by floods.

"Besides having an opportunity to help people who have the same fate, it makes me love the bank more because of how it takes care of its staff," she added.

The flooding has led to other shortages besides essential consumer goods, and blood is one critical need. Kiatnakin Bank has worked with the Red Cross Society and Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) to stage blood donations at the bank's headquarters on Asok Road. 

The drive received a good response from its staff and people working in the area, said KK president Tawatchai Suktikipisan.

Prin Chaiwisuthakul, 45, an SWU professor, said he decided to take part after hearing an announcement about the bank's campaign at the university.

Kiatnakin employee Orathai Saejia, 26, said she wanted to donate blood but her weight was below the requirement. However, she said she intended to participate in other voluntary activities to help other people affected by the floods.

Power of Thai' put to work

The flood crisis has created an opportunity to turn business rivalry into a partnership for the common good, say business leaders.

The heads of 12 of Thailand's biggest corporations yesterday announced a plan to pool their resources to help put the flood-ravaged kingdom back on its fleet.

Their "Power of Thai" campaign aims to raise 100 million baht over eight months, with education as the priority.

The programmer was the brainchild of Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, the president and CEO of Thai Beverage Plc. Other participants are Advanced Info Service, True Corp, Central Group, GMM Grammy, Muang Thai Life Assurance, ICC International, Bangkok Bank, Major Cineplex, Thai Union Frozen Products, BTS Group Holdings and Mitr Phol Sugar.

"Every time we meet Khun Paiboon (Damrongchaitham) of Grammy or Khun Sara (Lamsam) of Muang Thai Life, we always talk about our businesses and bluff each other," said Sudhitham Chirathivat, executive chairman of Central Group of Companies. 

This is a new dimension. We're not talking about business. What we're doing together is a common attempt to revive Thailand."

Mr Thapana said each business would contribute seed money and fund activities to raise more funds, including producing one million Power of Thai wristbands to be sold at 100 baht each. 

They intend to raise more funds through sales of products bearing the Power of Thai logo.

Isara Wongkusolkij, president of Mitr Phol Sugar, said education was chosen because a better educational system would be essential to building the future.

Apart from sharing resources, the businesses are optimistic about economic growth next year, spurred by heavy government spending on rehabilitation as well as private sector revival efforts.

Sompol Chaisiriroj, vice-president of ICC International, the Saha Group apparel flagship, said businesses would move ahead very quickly with rehabilitation because otherwise they would risk losing opportunities.

This will create more new employment and production.

Thai Floods May Take Months to Recede, Delaying Factory Restarts

Nov. 16 (Bangkok)- Thailand’s government said floodwater around Bangkok may take as long as two months to fully recede, threatening plans by companies including Western Digital Corp. and Sony Corp. to restart production.

Floodwater are still more than 2 meters (6.6-feet) deep around some factories in Ayutthaya province, and water levels at two industrial estates in Pathum Thani north of Bangkok are higher than protective dikes, hampering drainage efforts, Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said yesterday.

Advancing waters have swamped seven industrial estates north of Bangkok with 891 factories, and threaten two others east of the capital where Honda Motor Co. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. have operations.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said that eastern Bangkok should be flood-free by the end of the year, while western districts may take longer to drain.

“We are still not confident about the western part of Bangkok because drainage is quite difficult,” Yingluck said. “We need to see area by area. For the east, we should be able to do it before the New Year.”

The damage from the nation’s worst floods in about 70 years has increased to an estimated 346.2 billion baht ($11.2 billion) and may curb economic growth by between 3.1 and 3.4 percentage points this year, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce said on Nov. 10. 

The central bank said this month it may revise its forecast for 2.6 percent growth this year.

Yingluck has proposed spending 130 billion baht on reconstruction and steps to prevent future floods. She seeks to reassure investors that Thailand remains a safe place for business, as companies including Pioneer Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. scrapped profit forecasts after the floods shut factories.

Honda, Nikon

Four industrial estates near Ayutthaya, which house plants operated by Honda and Nikon Corp., may be able to resume operations next month, Wannarat said. They include Factory Land, Bang Pa-In, Hi-Tech and Rojana.

“We have made good progress and expect that about 70 percent to 80 percent of the total plants in four industrial estates should resume operations in December,” he told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting in Bangkok.

Rehabilitation of the Nava Nakorn and Bangkadi industrial zones in Pathum Thani province hasn’t yet started because water levels are too high, he said. The estates house plants operated by Western Digital, Sony, Toshiba Corp. and Nidec Corp.

“The water level at these two estates is still higher than the dikes,” Wannarat said. “They need to wait until water recedes to the same level as the dikes before starting to pump water out.”

Isuzu Production

Water levels have stabilized around the Bang Chan and Lad Krabang industrial estates in eastern Bangkok, and authorities are installing more water pumps to protect the facilities, Wannarat said.

Isuzu said yesterday it will restart production at Bang Chan on Nov. 21 as a parts shortage eases.

The floods have closed 891 factories in industrial estates that employed about 460,000 people, according to the Thai Industrial Estate and Strategic Partners Association.

Saha Rattana Nakorn, which houses a plant operated by Danish shoemaker ECCO Sko A/S and was one of the first industrial areas to be flooded, is still surrounded by 2.2 meters of floodwater, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand said yesterday on its website. 

At Hi-Tech, water is 1.76 meters deep, while floodwaters at Bang Pa-In have fallen to 0.37 meter, the state agency said.

Bangkok Threatened

Authorities are diverting a slow-moving pool of water around Bangkok using a network of canals, dikes and sandbag barriers. 

The capital is prone to flooding because it sits at the southern tip of a river basin that empties into the Gulf of Thailand and has an average elevation of less than 2 meters above sea level.

At least 562 people have been killed since late July, when monsoon rains began lashing Thailand. Flooding worsened last month, when rainfall about 40 percent more than the annual average filled dams to capacity, prompting authorities to release more than 9 billion cubic meters of water.

The provinces of Nakhon Sawan, 218 kilometers (135 miles) north of Bangkok, and Ayutthaya, 78 kilometers from the capital, began flooding in early August. 

Floodwater eventually rose as high as 3 meters in Ayutthaya and took as long as three weeks to reach Bangkok’s outskirts.

Rice Farms

Agriculture Minister Theera Wongsamut said Nov. 10 that the dams didn’t release large volumes earlier because of concern rice farms may be flooded during the harvest. 

While Thailand’s fertile floodplains have helped the country remain the world’s biggest rice exporter for the past three decades, they also form a natural basin that slows the drainage of water through the Chao Phraya River toward Bangkok and the sea.

The nation’s largest dams are storing 64.9 billion cubic meters of water, or about 93 percent of their capacity, compared with 52.3 billion cubic meters at the same time last year, the Royal Irrigation Department said on its website yesterday.

Yingluck will discuss the government’s response to the floods with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when they visit Bangkok today.

“The water level has stabilized and drainage has improved,” Yingluck said. “But, it’s still difficult to say for the western part of Bangkok because there is still a lot of water in the area and we still have problems draining it.”

Floods affect interest rates but the baht holds up for now

Floodwater may breach dykes, overwhelm homes and inconvenience millions, but financial markets must move on, particularly after a month as volatile as October.

It is still impossible to predict the ultimate extent of the floods. But one thing is certain - over the past month, estimates of the potential damage have been revised up almost continually, as almost every day another industrial estate, town or district goes under water.

This is having a big impact on interest rate expectations. At its monetary policy meeting in late August, the Bank of Thailand hiked its overnight benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 3.50 per cent, amidst inflation worries. Consensus was for the rate to rise to 4 per cent by mid-2012.

By the latest policy meeting in mid-October, the atmosphere had shifted. Worries over growth dominated the agenda, and the central bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged. 

There are also growing calls to reduce interest rates, to help support recovery.

Bond yields have been falling, and are now below the overnight rate for tenors up to 10 years. This is partly due to low bond supply, but in any case, a one-year yield at 3.30 per cent indicates that investors are pricing in future rate cuts.

So far, the floods have had less of an impact on baht exchange rates. The currency market is being driven by two global issues - Europe's debt problems and US recession risks.

Both those issues seemed to improve over the last month, boosting risk appetite. As a result, Asian currencies, including the baht, have strengthened versus the dollar.

Europe's debt crisis remains a mess, but things are a bit better than a month ago. The summit meeting in late October showed some progress on restructuring Greek debts, recapitalising banks and increasing the European rescue fund. 

Greece temporarily shocked everyone by proposing a public referendum on Europe, but then shelved the plans after a big outcry. Nevertheless, it is worrying how politics (in any one of many countries) can easily affect sentiment on European prospects.

Meanwhile, fears on whether the United States is entering a recession have abated somewhat. Key economic figures (such as change in payrolls, retail sales and manufacturing activity) have been better than expected

Recent corporate earnings reports have also been generally sound. That helped revive risk appetite. The S&P 500 stock index increased by 10.8 per cent in October, its best monthly performance since December 1991.

In any case, there are downside risks ahead for the baht. The situations in Europe and the US improved last month, but both remain fragile. It is easy to envisage bad news that could cause sentiment to shift.

Also, the floods may yet have a negative impact on the baht. The disruptions to industrial activity should cause Thai exports to fall significantly in the fourth quarter. 

Reconstruction efforts could lead to greater import requirements. Continued flooding in Bangkok might also hit tourist arrivals, just as the peak season begins in December. All these would lead to lower demand for baht in currency markets.

Parson Singha is chief markets strategist in the Global Markets Department of HSBC Thailand.

Lawyers to launch probe into disaster

The Lawyers Council of Thailand will set up a panel to study the government's handling of water runoff and flooding in order to help flood victims who have lost homes and possessions.

Council deputy chairman Kriangsak Woramongkolchai, who heads the 11-man panel, said the committee will look into all possible aspects which may have contributed to the flood crisis.

These include management of water in reservoirs, the invocation of the disaster prevention and mitigation law, and opening and closure of sluice gates, he said.

Mr Kriangsak said if the findings show the damage was caused by the government's negligence or mismanagement, the LCT will provide legal assistance to the flood victims.

He insisted there was no hidden agenda involved and the move is part of the LCT's public service.

Mr Kriangsak said the government's compensation of 5,000 baht does not deprive the flood victims of their legal rights to sue for actual damage.

"If there is evidence that the damage was caused by a lack of prevention or warning or mismanagement, the people can sue the government for the amount they deserve," he said. 

He also advised flood victims to compile evidence such as photos of the damage if they want to file a complaint against the government.

Meanwhile, a human rights and environment lawyer is preparing to ask six agencies to take action against a politician who allegedly led villagers to destroy a flood dyke.

Warin Thiamcharas said his petition will be submitted to the prime minister, the national police chief, the city police chief, the Bangkok governor, the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority governor and the natural resources and environment minister.

He said the destruction of the dyke had caused contamination to water resources. He said if these authorities failed to take proper action, he will file a petition with the ombudsman and the Administrative Court.

He also called on human rights and environment organisations to pressure the government to better protect the public interest.

Govt apologises to flood victims

Water levels start to drop in Bangkok's inner-north

The government has apologised to people affected by its slow response to the flooding crisis as water levels began to recede in some affected areas.

Highway bail-out begins: Highways Department workers begin salvaging Bangkok-Suphan Buri Highway 340 in Pathum Thani yesterday. The road will be used as a detour to the South in case the Rama II Road, which is the main route to the South from Bangkok, is made impassable by floods.

Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, director of the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc), yesterday issued the apology in parliament.

He also pledged to drain floodwaters as soon as possible.

The Froc director attributed the flooding to three major storms that directly hit Thailand and brought with them large amounts of rainwater.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra also thanked opposition and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva in parliament for his show of moral support in saying it was not necessary for her to step down in the wake of the disaster, as is being demanded by some.

While efforts to keep central Bangkok dry seemed to have been successful, with a decline of flood water on major roads, the situation elsewhere remains dire, particularly in Thon Buri, where hundreds of residents blocked Rama II road last night in a demand to remove a sandbag dyke responsible for the protracted inundation in their community.

Around 8pm yesterday, about 1,000 residents from Keha Chumchon Thon Buri 2 housing estate and nearby areas blocked inbound Rama II road in front of Bang Khunthian electricity office, demanding the dismantling of a sandbag dyke built by Keha Chumchon Thon Buri 1 housing estate.

The crowd agreed to disperse after police dismantled the dyke, but the two community groups plan to continue negotiations today.

Receding water levels were observed yesterday on Vibhavadi Rangsit, Phahon Yothin and Ratchadapisek roads, which are linked with inner Bangkok.

The flood water dropped by tens of centimetres in some areas, but just 1-2cm in others.

The water level in Khlong Bang Sue, into which the floods on these three main roads is being drained, also decreased by 10cm yesterday.

About 4 million cubic metres of water are being drained into the Chao Phraya River via the canal per day.

Chamnan Kwannate, of the Bang Sue drainage station, said authorities plan to decrease water in Khlong Bang Sue by 10cm a day.

Deputy Bangkok governor Thirachon Manomaipibul attributed the decline to the flood barrier which slowed down the run-off and allowed City Hall to divert water into Khlong Bang Sue and then to the Chao Phraya River.

The water on Vibhavadi Road in Don Muang dropped by 25cm yesterday.

If there is no more run-off, the amount of water on the flooded streets would gradually decline over the next two weeks, said Mr Thirachon.

However, floods levels continued to rise or to affect new areas in the eastern and western parts of Bangkok.

Anond Snidvongs, an academic on the Flood Relief Operation Command's water draining committee, yesterday urged the city not to panic even though about 3-4 billion cu/m of water would flow into the sea through Bangkok.

He said the amount would not make existing water levels much higher and most of the affected areas should return to normal within two weeks.

However, he said the situation on the eastern side, especially Nong Chok and Min Buri, might take four to six weeks to return to normal.

In the east, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) put on high alert 22 communities in Saphan Sung sub-district of Saphan Sung district and more areas in Khlong Kum and Nuan Chan sub-districts of Bung Kum district.

The BMA said it might add Bang Bon and Bung Kum districts to the disaster-hit list which so far covers 32 of Bangkok's 50 districts.

The water in Khlong Saen Saep rose and inundated low-lying canalside areas in Bung Kum and Bang Kapi districts.

Rising floodwaters on Seri Thai Road at Bang Chan intersection continued to threaten Bangchan Industrial estate.

On the western side, Khlong Maha Sawat in Nakhon Pathom overflowed into Khlong Thawi Wattana, further submerging Thon Buri side of Bangkok.

BMA staff were increasing the height of the sandbags along a 7km section of Khlong Maha Sawat.

The run-off yesterday spread in Bang Bon and Bang Khunthian districts and crept towards Rama II Road.

The Highways Department had yet to salvage the inundated Highway 340 and a section of Kanchanaphisek Road.

The operation was set for completion yesterday to provide a detour to the South if Rama II becomes impassable.

Transport Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat said the operation to drain the flood in front of Sombat Buri on Kanchanaphisek Road should be finished by today.

The high tide starting today may hinder water drainage into the sea but should not worsen the situation, the Royal Irrigation Department said. The flood has killed 533 people and affected 1.31 million nationwide.

Thailand tries to help companies, as floods spread

BANGKOK

Thailand on Wednesday offered more help to businesses affected by a national flood crisis as the waters spread deeper into Bangkok and risked cutting off a major highway.

The flooding since late July has killed 533 people and caused billions of dollars in damage, closing hundreds of inundated factories north of the capital. 

The water has nearly surrounded Bangkok, flooding a dozen of its outer districts and threatening chaos in the crowded city of more than 9 million people.

The floodwaters are trickling onto the main route south from the city, Rama II Road. If the water gets deeper, it will cut off the last dry highway to Thailand's south and likely swamp so-far unflooded areas of southwestern Bangkok.

The industrial closures have had an effect well beyond Thailand, since the factories supply key components for several industries, particularly the automotive and computer sectors.

Thailand's Board of Investment, which grants tax holidays and other privileges to investment projects, already has taken steps to mitigate flood damage, such as giving tax write-offs for damaged raw materials and easing rules on bringing in foreign nationals to help with recovery.

New measures announced Thursday include allowing companies to temporarily outsource all manufacturing in order to maintain customer deliveries and extending by six months import tax exemptions on replacements for damaged machinery.

Especially hard hit by the flooding have been Japanese companies, led by Honda and Toyota, that were forced to close assembly plants in flooded areas. Some have complained they were not given timely and accurate information that would have allowed them to prepare for flooding.

On top of Thailand's political instability in recent years, the floods have raised the possibility foreign investment projects may relocate elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has tried reaching out to Japanese businesses. Japan's ambassador accompanied Yingluck on an inspection this week in Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, where several flooded industrial estates have begun cleanups.

Virabongse Ramangkura, a former finance minister heading a reconstruction and development committee established this week, said he would consult in Tokyo with officials from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on how best to aid the stricken businesses.

No of closed bank branches drops

For the first time in over a month, the number of temporarily-closed bank branches dropped, showing a good sign that the water level will recede soon.

According to the Bank of Thailand, the number dropped by 18 from the previous day to 613 on Nov 9, thanks largely to the service resumption of branches in Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi and parts of Bangkok.

Of total, 334 are located in Bangkok, 147 in Pathum Thani and 64 in Nonthaburi. The rest are in five other provinces.

Though, 5,596 ATMs are unplugged, showing an increase of 103 from the previous day, as floods hit more parts of Bangkok. At present, 2,217 ATMs in Bangkok, 15.8 per cent of total in the province, are unplugged.