«Наступного року ми запустимо спільну платформу закупівлі газу і будемо купувати газ у всіх надійних партнерів»
…

Заборона триватиме 1 рік і пов’язана з виявленням у Богуслаєва російського громадянства
…

Thailand’s tourist economy appears to be on the rebound as millions of international arrivals flock to the Southeast Asian country following COVID-19 border restrictions and closures. The government says it is highly likely that Thailand will meet its target of 10 million visitors by the end of the year.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT, recently announced that more than 7.3 million visitors arrived in the country from January to late October. As of October 1, Thailand dropped all remaining COVID-19 requirements, including proof of vaccination or rapid test results.

TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said difficult times are past.

“Thailand is seeing its reports across the board — from ongoing tourism marketing and promoting to Amazing Thailand SHA health and safety standards put in place — paying off, with more than 7 million foreign tourists having already returned to our shores so far in 2022,” he said, referring to the Safety and Health Administration.

Tourism

Thailand’s economy relies heavily on tourism. In 2019, tourism accounted for approximately 11% of Thailand’s GDP, and around 20% of Thais were employed in the sector, according to the Bank of Thailand.

Thailand’s GDP declined by 6% in 2020 amid the pandemic-fueled global economic downturn. Since its borders reopened, GDP has risen by 2.4% year on year in the first half of 2022, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said, citing a report by the National Economic and Social Development Council, The Nation newspaper reported.

Malaysia-based analyst Gary Bowerman says Thailand is once again leading the way for tourism in Southeast Asia.

“Pre-pandemic Thailand was the most visited country in Southeast Asia,” he said. “It was the first to try and reopen, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand [is] always very bullish; they always forecast quite high. They did everything they could to bring back tourism inbound. For Thailand it was all about inbound.”

Bowerman said 2022 has been an unusual year, so its expected visitor arrivals were forecast to be lower.

He described 2022 as a “very weird, compressed year.”

“Most countries in the region didn’t open for inbound or outbound until April this year, so it’s a kind of three-quarter year,” he said.

In 2019, Thailand’s inbound visitors amounted to over 39 million, the country’s highest number of arrivals to date.

Looking to 2023

Thai tourism officials are now predicting only up to 18 million visitors for 2023, with little hope that the Chinese market, which usually makes up nearly 30% of all Thailand arrivals, will pick up.

Bowerman says achieving those figures will take some time, especially amid uncertainty as to when Chinese tourists will enter the country in large numbers.

“To expect they will get 12 million Chinese tourists next year, when they only had 11 million in 2019, that’s a high figure,” Bowerman said. “I don’t think anyone expects China to open [until] at least May …. I don’t think we can take the China forecast very seriously.”

China is sticking with its “zero-COVID” policy some three years after the coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan. Lockdowns in Chinese cities are still common, while economic trade has slowed, borders remain closed for international tourists and a quarantine remains in place for Chinese residents returning to the country.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has seen close to 3.9 million arrivals so far this year, according to tourism officials, and queues to pass through Customs have been long in recent weeks.

For Thailand’s business owners, the hordes of arrivals are a welcome sight.

Chan Holland, owner of Bangkok’s Canary Travel Thailand, says her bookings have increased since October, with most of her customers coming from Britain and European Union countries.

“Last year [we] probably had 10% [of our usual] customers. To compare, I think it is 80% better than last year,” she told VOA. “We are really happy and grateful for all the tourists we have right now. Welcome back to Thailand.”

Charlee Keardkumsap, the director of sales and marketing at Bandara Suites in Bangkok, told VOA that business has increased in recent months.

“Our business picked up more than 50% after [the country] reopened [for tourism],” he said, explaining that 2023 saw numerous first-quarter bookings of mixed clientele, and increased numbers of Asian tourists in recent months.

Amid the upbeat outlook, Thailand has been hosting meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, all year. Next week, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, along with leaders from countries including Australia, Canada and China, will be in Bangkok for an APEC summit, its first in-person talks in four years.
…

Діалог буде спиратися на результати зустрічей у Відні в жовтні цього року
…

Wall Street surged to its best day since April 2020 as markets cheered a government report that inflation cooled more than expected last month.

The S&P 500 jumped 5.5% Thursday, and the Dow rose nearly 1,200 points as traders took the data as a sign the worst of inflation may have passed.

Treasury yields fell dramatically as bond markets relaxed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other loans, fell to 3.85% from 4.10% late Wednesday, which is a major move for the bond market. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, dropped to 4.32% from 4.58%.

Even bitcoin rose on hopes a slowdown in inflation could mean the Federal Reserve won’t have to be so aggressive about raising interest rates. Such hikes have been the main reason for Wall Street’s troubles this year and are threatening a recession.

All the action stemmed from a U.S. government report showing that inflation slowed in October for a fourth straight month since hitting a peak of 9.1% in June. The reading of 7.7% was better than the 8% economists were expecting.

Perhaps more importantly, inflation also slowed more than expected after ignoring the effects of food and energy prices. That’s the measure the Fed pays closer attention to. So did inflation between September and October.

“The month-on-month rate of inflation is much more informative,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments. “On that measure, inflation is still high, but not scary high.”

Slower inflation could keep the Fed off the most aggressive path in raising interest rates. It’s already raised its key rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%, up from virtually zero in March.

By raising rates, the Fed is intentionally trying to slow the economy and jobs market in hopes of undercutting inflation, which hit a four-decade high in the summer. The risk is that it can create a recession if it goes too far, and higher rates drag on prices for stocks and other investments in the meantime.

Higher interest rates have particularly hit high-growth tech stocks, cryptocurrencies and other investments seen as the riskiest or most expensive.

Big Tech stocks were some of the most buoyant forces on Wall Street following the inflation report. Apple and Microsoft both rose 6.8%, while Amazon soared 11.7%.

Tesla also rose nearly 6%, though it remains down by roughly half since CEO Elon Musk announced in April that he was Twitter’s largest shareholder. Investors fled the electric vehicle maker on fears Musk would be distracted by Twitter, and he has sold more than $19 billion in Tesla stock since then.

Slower inflation could get the Federal Reserve to downshift the size of its rate hikes at its next policy meeting in December, after it pushed through four straight increases of 0.75 percentage points. That could open the way for the Fed to return to the more typical increases of 0.25 percentage points before pausing hikes completely.

While Thursday’s report on inflation was encouraging, analysts cautioned the Fed’s campaign against high inflation is likely still far from over. Inflation data has given false hope before, only to reaccelerate again.

“The Fed was adamant that it won’t hit the brakes on rate hikes until inflation slows, and while the market’s rally indicates investors may see light at the end of the tunnel, it will get one more reading before its decision next month,” said Mike Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office. “Remember that even as we see a slowdown, prices remain elevated and have a long way to go before normalizing.”

Another potentially market-shaking report will hit Wall Street Friday, when the latest reading arrives on how much inflation U.S. households see coming in future years. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he’s paying particularly close attention to such expectations. 
…