Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand is offering a guarantee for loans for pickup trucks, a key segment of the country’s car manufacturing industry, as it seeks to boost a flagging autos sector that saw production slump to a four-year low in 2024.
As reported by the local news site Bangkok Post, Thailand is Southeast Asia's biggest auto production centre and an export base for top automakers like Toyota and Honda, but its auto shipments declined 8.8% last year, when domestic sales plunged 26%. A major factor in the decline has been lack of access to local loans for pickup trucks, which typically account for a third of the country's domestic auto sales.
In an announcement on March 21 ahead of next week's Bangkok International Motor Show, the Thai Government said it will offer a support package of 5 billion THB (147.80 million USD) over a seven-year period.
"The programme will reduce risk and creative incentives for financial institutions to provide loans," Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul said as quoted by Bangkok Post, adding that it would boost pickup truck sales by 6,250 units.
The nation’s auto output fell for an 18th consecutive month in January, plunging more than 24% on a yearly basis to 107,103 vehicles./.
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Indonesian Ambassador Rina P. Soemarno, who currently serves as Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Prague, emphasised the spirit of regional solidarity and cooperation, and the importance of enhancing ASEAN–Czech Republic relations.
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The consumer index of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), fell to 51.7 in July from 52.7 in the previous month. The sluggish economy and the trade war, as well as high living costs, continue to undermine confidence, the university said.
Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly Istvan Jakab expressed his hope for further deepening Hungary’s ties with ASEAN countries and called for their support for Hungary’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
The 30-storey tower crumbled seconds after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit neighbouring Myanmar on March 28. The partially built high-rise, meant to house the State Audit Office (SAO), was the only building in Thailand to collapse, killing 89 people on the site, mostly construction workers.
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Indonesia is accelerating plans to increase lithium imports, particularly from Australia, in a bid to fill gaps in the electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain and realise its ambition of becoming a global EV manufacturing hub.
