Industries in Thailand must be on-line with electronic customs procedures within two months or they will risk delays in importing and exporting products, writes Bangkok Post.

A customs department executive sounded the warning at a conference on the electronic date interchange (EDI) system. Importers would gradually be brought on-line starting this month, following exporters who began linking up in July, Chantana Yiengsubhanond, director of system development, told the conference organised by Thai National Shippers' Council.

The system, intended to reduce costs by as much as 60 per cent by eliminating paperwork and other bureaucratic procedures, would be fully operational nationwide by January 1, 2000 she said.

Businesses joining the system each need to pay start-up costs of between 80,000 and 120,000 baht for a computer and software. The monthly service fee ranges from 500 to 800 baht, plus a transaction charge of between four and seven baht for every1,000 characters transmitted through EDI. Through the system, exporters can send information about their shipment, tax status and other data to the Customs Department for screening. Approvals or requests for more details are made the same way.

Interest up

Interest rates in Thailand could climb by up to one-half of a percentage point in the fourth quarter as companies seek to raise new funds before the end of the year, when Y2K concerns are expected to lead many foreign funds to slow new investment, reports Bangkok Post.

Bond yields have stayed low in recent months, in line with the Bank of Thailand's loose bias toward monetary policy. According to the Thai Bond Dealers' Centre, one-year government issues carry a reference yield of 3.11 per cent, three-year issues 4.94 per cent, five-year issues 6.14 per cent and 10-year 7.1 per cent.

The Industrial Finance Corporation of Thailand recently placed 980 million baht in five-year bonds at 6.4 per cent, and 820 million in seven-year bonds at 7.3per cent. The bonds, guaranteed by the finance ministry, will be listed at the bond centre and traded through the central bank's repurchase market.

S'pore laws on hedge funds

Singapore, in a global panel reviewing the financial system, has proposed a set of indirect laws to regulate hedge funds, blamed by some for sparking off the Asian financial crisis, according to a report in Hong Kong Standard.It also suggested bringing offshore financial centres which generate massive capital flows under a global regulatory umbrella.

Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said hedge funds, which invest on behalf of wealthy individuals and institutional investors, could be regulated through their lenders and other counter-parties.

Lee, however, said a global market regulator for hedge funds was not practical. Such a watchdog would be ``politically unrealistic''.

Call rates down

Etisalat, the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, has reduced call and subscription charges for itsthree mobile phone services. The services include normal GSM (Global System for Mobile Telecommunications), `Wasel', and `Speak Easy', according to a report in Gulf News.

Ahmed Faisal Al Dosery, Etisalat's public relations manager, said people using the normal mobile phones and the Wasel service would be paying fils 50 per minute during peak hours. The current call rate is fils 60 per minute. But the off-peak hours call charges for both services would remain at fils 30 per minute.

The corporation's subscription charges for normal GSM have been reduced from Dh340 to Dh320. For Wasel GSM service the subscription charges have been reduced from Dh520 to Dh340, while the annual renewal charges for the service have also been lowered from Dh360 to Dh200. y