Flooding hit 16 provinces on Sunday, mostly in the Central Plain hit by deluges of water from the Chao Phraya River, and the highest number of affected households was in Ayutthaya province.

The sudden decision by Thamanat Prompow, the patriarch of the Klatham Party, to defect from the Pheu Thai-led government and throw his support behind a new minority coalition with Anutin Charnvirakul as premier has jolted the already fragile Thai political landscape.

The Bank of Thailand plans to introduce new business licences for white-label automated teller machines (ATMs) next year.

The creation of a Thai sovereign wealth fund (SWF) has been debated in the country for several years.

Former Democrat MP Wachara Phetthong has filed an ethics complaint against House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha for allegedly violating parliamentary rules by requesting to borrow Pol Capt Atitiya “Cat” Benjapak, a celebrity turned civil servant, from the Department of Provincial Administration (DPA) to assist him at the Secretariat of the House of Representatives.

Thailand’s new minister of tourism and sports has vowed to start collecting a 300-baht tourism tax during his four-month term and instructed the relevant parties to communicate the benefits of the scheme to visitors.