REBUFF FOR 'RICH KING' REPORT
Forbes Magazine's report issued yesterday about the World's Richest Royals named Thailand's King Bhumibol as top with an estimated US$ 35 billion fortune. however those figures have been quickly disputed in the Thai media and claimed as inaccurate. According to the Foreign Ministry, quoted in The Bangkok Post,"The ministry quoted the Crown Property Bureau as saying the report was inaccurate and inconsistent. While the report states that some items are not considered to belong to the King and as such were not counted in the monarch's net worth, Forbes included land and other assets belonging to the Crown Property Bureau, which is not part of His Majesty's personal net worth." Reports like this are a minefield for publishers. You have to check, check and check again to make sure your figures are correct and will stand up to public scrutiny. When this story broke yesterday afternoon I spoke my some Thai colleagues who were amazed at the figures being quoted, even to the extent of knowing them not to be true. Forbes doesn't sell many copies inside Thailand and I wonder how many more or less they'll see of this issue?
I'll leave the last word to the web headline from the UK's The Sun yesterday afternoon.
3 comments:
All that would be needed is some access to clear the fog.
Forbes must have been aware of the official doubts now raised. Or weren't they?
Will the magazine stand by its story? And present some of its "access?"
Please see more detailed Article by Forbes ("The Crowning Fortune") on King's wealth here:
http://www.forbes.com/magazines/global/2008/0901/032.html
The $35 billion is misleading, since, as stated clearly in the new Forbes Article, the real estate holdings in Bangkok are worth $31 billion.
Research for 2005, shows the total income of Crown Property Bureau (CPB) at $280 million (adjusted for current exchange rate). In that total, $200 million was from company dividends, and only $80 million from the real estate. This is consistent with the recent Bangkokpost citation that most of CPB's land is leased at low-priced, below market rate to state agencies, NGOs, and low-income tenants. It was also stated that only 7% of the land is leased at commercial rates. Paul Handley makes the same comment in the new Forbes Article that the CPB is not charging market rates, and that "raising them would cause serious repercussions, especially for its thousands of low-income tenants."
How much of the annual income generated by the CPB goes to charity is unknown, but I am sure a good share of it does go to charity.
So, don't treat the $35 billion figure as if it was the King's disposable income. It is not. The greater bulk, ie. $31 billion, is real estate mostly leased out cheaply to state agencies and low-income citizens, and most of the rest is in share holdings which are invested in the long-term.
The new Forbes Article makes the point that the CPB's goal is: "to aid the country's development by investing in key industries and providing below-market-rate housing for low-income citizens."
PB
PB - Thanks for pointing this out, and I think you'll agree that I made this point in my original post.
I said too in my original article that reports like thia are a minefield. You have to be so careful to get facts correct.
The headlines around the world were that His Majesty is the richest monarch in the world, whereas the subsequent clarification and factual details will not make headlines anywhere.
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