THAI NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTS - NOV 1, 2007.

BANGKOK, Nov 1 Asia Pulse - Highlights of today's newspapers

BANGKOK POST:

- Economic growth picked up in the third quarter due to robust exports and a recovery in household consumption and private investment, according to the Bank of Thailand. Amara Sriphayak, senior director for the Domestic Economy Department, said household consumption grew 0.6 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter. In the second quarter it was stable.

- More than 300 sugarcane planters marched to the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board (OCSB) yesterday demanding a higher minimum cane price to help ease the impact of soaring costs.

- The insurer Ayudhya Allianz C.P. Life (AACP) has begun an 80-million baht (US$2.52 million) TV advertising campaign and is set to invest up to 240 million baht in advertising including TV commercials next year.

- The Energy and Transport ministries have agreed to transfer 8.7 billion baht from the state-run Oil Fund to the Energy Conservation Fund, which will then lend the money for skytrain and dual-track rail projects. Piyasvasti Amranand, the energy minister, said yesterday after meeting with Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um that the two ministries agreed in principle to allocate the first 8.7 billion baht.

- The number of European visitors to Thailand is likely to grow by 20-25 per cent in the coming high season and could compensate for falling arrivals from East Asia, said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Based on the nine-month figure, arrivals from Europe via Suvarnabhumi Airport rose about 13 per cent year-on-year to 2.1 million. Tourists from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe showed the highest growth, helping to draw total arrivals from the region to 30 per cent of the projected 14.8 million foreign tourists this year.