Thailand’s government intends to issue an emergency decree to borrow up to 500 billion baht, pending approval to raise the public debt ceiling, citing tight cash reserves and mounting economic risks.

Key Points

• Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt announced the plan, noting actual borrowing may be less than the full amount but the ceiling must cover the full figure per public debt rules.
• Public debt currently sits at ~66% of GDP, nearing the existing 70% limit; the Finance Ministry will finalize the new ceiling to preserve fiscal space.
• Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signaled budget discipline for 2027, including cuts to non-essential spending and capped increases, with the 3.788 trillion baht budget plan to be submitted to cabinet on June 23.

Thailand’s proposed 500 billion baht emergency borrowing is justified by the government as a necessary response to tight cash balances and escalating external and environmental risks. Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt stated that while the full amount may not be utilized, the law requires raising the public debt ceiling to cover the specified total to address these pressing economic issues.

The move comes as public debt reaches approximately 66% of GDP, nearing the current 70% statutory limit. To maintain fiscal stability, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has simultaneously issued guidelines for the 2027 budget that include cutting non-essential spending and limiting budget increases. However, some economists warn that such large-scale borrowing amid a global energy crisis and stagnant growth could lead to stagflation or a sovereign credit rating downgrade.

Thailand’s government is facing significant economic risks, primarily driven by a global energy crisis and the Middle East conflict, which have triggered concerns over potential stagflation. To manage these pressures, authorities have introduced fiscal measures, including an emergency decree to borrow 500 billion baht and a proposal to expand the public debt ceiling beyond the current 70% of GDP.

Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt stated that rising external and environmental risks, combined with tight cash balances, necessitated these emergency borrowing plans. Experts at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce warn that stagflation—characterized by low growth and high inflation—is a growing threat if the conflict in the Middle East persists, potentially leading to increased business costs and weakened consumer purchasing power. Additionally, high levels of household debt and a widening trade deficit due to soaring oil prices have further strained the nation’s fiscal stability and currency value.

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The following segment was excerpted from the Rowan Street Q1 2026 Letter.

Meta (META) has delivered a cumulative return of approximately 1,300% since its IPO, or about 21% annually. The path to those returns, however, has been anything but

Britain’s utilities and construction contractors are running up against the same quiet problem. The jobs are there, the tenders are lucrative, but the qualified workforce to actually execute them is tightening year on year.

NRSWA (New Roads and Street Works Act) certification has gone from a nice-to-have credential five years ago to a genuine precondition for winning certain local-authority and utility contracts in 2026. Small and mid-sized enterprises in the sector are investing in certification at unprecedented rates, and the ones waiting to see how it shakes out are quietly losing ground to competitors who moved first.

The investment case is stronger than most SME owners initially expect. Reputable providers such as an NRSWA Streetworks Operative Course deliver five-day certification windows that map directly to the Street Works Qualifications Register, valid for five years, and the ROI calculation in labour productivity plus tender win-rate improvement typically pays the course cost back within a quarter. Here’s why the certification question has moved up the SME agenda and what business owners should understand before committing their training budget.

Why Has NRSWA Certification Become a Competitive Differentiator?

Three structural shifts over the last five years have made streetworks certification more valuable than it was historically.

The first is local authority procurement tightening. Councils across England and Wales have moved toward explicit certification requirements in their streetworks-related tenders. A contractor without certified operatives on the crew is increasingly disqualified at the paperwork stage rather than evaluated on price. That shifts the calculation from “is certification worth the cost” to “is not having certification worth the lost revenue”.

The second is utility sector consolidation. As water, gas, and telecoms contractors have scaled through acquisition, the larger acquirers are standardising on certified-only sub-contractor networks. SMEs without certification are finding themselves excluded from subcontractor lists they relied on for 20 percent or more of their annual revenue.

The third is insurance alignment. Public liability policies for streetworks contractors are increasingly pricing certification as a risk factor. Insurers quote more aggressively to firms with documented training records, and quote punitively to firms without. Over a multi-year insurance cycle, that premium differential adds real money to the certification ROI calculation.

What Does the NRSWA Course Actually Cover?

The standard five-day operative course covers six core competency areas:

1. Locating underground apparatus. Cable avoidance, service detection, and safe digging practice around gas, water, electric, and telecoms infrastructure.
2. Signing, lighting, and guarding. The traffic management requirements that protect both site workers and the public during active works.
3. Excavation. Safe excavation techniques, including spoil management and working near underground utilities.
4. Reinstatement of various materials. Returning surfaces, footways, and carriageways to specification after works complete.
5. Safety and compliance paperwork. The documentation trail that local authority inspectors actually check.
6. Practical and theoretical assessments. Both classroom-based testing and site-based competency demonstration before certification issues.

The five-day format compresses theoretical content, supervised practical work, and formal assessment into a concentrated window that SMEs can manage around project schedules.

What Returns Should SMEs Expect From the Investment?

Four measurable returns that certified SMEs typically document within the first year:

Contract win rate improvement. Firms that move from zero certified operatives to a certified team of 5-8 typically see a 15-30 percent lift in successful tender submissions over the following 12 months. The HSE’s guidance on streetworks safety documents the regulatory backdrop that makes this true.

Reduced project rework. Certified operatives reduce reinstatement failure rates measurably, which means fewer callbacks, less liability exposure, and lower margin leakage per contract.

Stronger utility subcontractor relationships. Placement on approved subcontractor lists with major utilities is gatekept by certification status. Getting on those lists often unlocks multi-year contract frameworks that drive predictable revenue.

Insurance premium improvement. SME growth stories like Mowgli Street Food’s private equity payday under founder Nisha Katona often document workforce investment as a scaling lever that institutional investors value when pricing growth firms. Public liability renewals come back 8-15 percent lower for firms with documented certification records, which compounds across the five-year certification validity window.

The combined effect typically pays for the training investment within 3-6 months of certification for a mid-sized contractor, and continues to compound thereafter.

How Should SME Owners Structure the Training Investment?

A practical framework for deploying a certification programme without disrupting operational capacity:

• Phase the team through training. Certify in groups of 3-5 over 6-9 months rather than pulling the whole crew simultaneously
• Prioritise supervisors first. NRSWA supervisor qualifications (a separate certification track) should precede operative certifications so senior staff can validate on-site practice
• Use downtime strategically. January-February is typically slower in UK streetworks; it’s also when providers run discounted courses
• Budget for recertification cycles. The five-year validity window means a firm certifying 10 people in 2026 needs to plan 2031 recertifications now
• Capture certification status in quote paperwork. Publicising credential levels in tenders directly influences evaluator scoring

The Construction Industry Training Board’s guidance on industry workforce development covers the wider funding mechanisms (such as CITB grants) that partially offset training costs for eligible employers.

What Are the Common Mistakes SMEs Make?

A short list of failure modes that trip up first-time certification programmes:

• Treating certification as a one-off cost. The five-year validity means SMEs need ongoing recertification budgeting baked into financial plans
• Over-certifying when not needed. Not every operative role requires NRSWA certification; some admin-adjacent roles don’t benefit from the training investment
• Under-certifying supervisory roles. The supervisor-level certification is where many SMEs under-invest, creating compliance gaps on-site
• Ignoring cross-functional utility benefits. Teams often need to work across gas, water, electric, and telecoms scopes; single-sector certification can limit contract flexibility
• Picking the cheapest provider without checking assessor credentials. NRSWA certification quality varies measurably by provider; the paper outcome is the same but field competency can differ

What to Remember

• NRSWA certification has moved from nice-to-have to precondition for many UK streetworks contracts
• The investment typically pays back within one quarter through tender wins, insurance savings, and utility subcontractor access
• Five-day operative courses deliver Street Works Qualifications Register certification valid for five years
• Phase team certification rather than pulling the full crew simultaneously
• Budget for supervisor-level certification alongside operative training for best ROI

The Bottom Line for UK SME Owners

Streetworks certification has become one of the more measurable SME training investments available in 2026. The ROI path is clear, the contract-access benefits are documented, and the insurance-premium feedback loop compounds over the five-year certification window. For owners of growing trades or utility-adjacent firms, the question is rarely whether to certify the team. It’s how quickly to sequence the training against current project load. Getting ahead of the certification curve while competitors hesitate is one of the cheaper competitive moves available in the sector right now. Trades-sector entrepreneurs like Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins have built their firms partly on workforce credentialing that competitors underinvested in.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is NRSWA certification valid?

Five years from the date of successful assessment. Recertification is required before the expiry date to maintain the Street Works Qualifications Register listing.

What’s the cost of a five-day NRSWA operative course per person?

Typically £450 to £750 per operative depending on location, provider, and group booking discounts. CITB-registered employers may qualify for partial funding.

Can an SME self-certify through in-house training?

No. NRSWA requires accredited provider-delivered training with external assessment. Internal training cannot produce the Street Works Qualifications Register registration.

Which trades benefit most from NRSWA certification?

Gas, water, electricity, and telecoms operatives are the primary users. Construction firms doing groundworks, civil engineering contractors, and facilities management firms operating across streets also benefit meaningfully from certified crews.

OpenAI has shown the world a new generative model called ChatGPT Images 2, and it is more than just your average image-generating model.

The move comes right after OpenAI announced the shutdown of Sora, the company’s generative AI video model.

OpenAI Previews ChatGPT Image 2: New Image Gen Model

OpenAI revealed in its latest livestream event that there is an upcoming upgrade to its existing generative model with the new ChatGPT Image 2, which has improved capabilities in creating content.

Previously, OpenAI only gave users the ability to generate images via the ChatGPT Image model, but now, based on its teaser before the event and during the showcase itself, it can create magazine designs.

Through this new feature, users may basically create a magazine page or even an entire magazine via the Image 2 model.

Additionally, the ChatGPT Image 2 model can also deliver images featuring 2K resolution in multiple aspect ratios, generate images using updated data from the web (up to December 2025), feature Instant and Thinking modes, and add non-Latin languages to its expertise, according to 9to5Mac.

When to Expect the New ChatGPT Image 2 Model?

OpenAI is rolling out the latest ChatGPT Image 2 model now, and users may try it once they see it available on the app or website platform.

As previously mentioned, OpenAI gave ChatGPT Image 2 real-world intelligence because of its updated knowledge cutoff of up to December 2025, which is combined with handling end-to-end tasks.

Initially, OpenAI’s solution to ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities was sharing DALL-E’s generative models on the platform, but the company later changed it to the ChatGPT Image model in December 2025.

It was revealed to be the company’s solution to the massive popularity of Google’s Nano Banana Pro.

Originally published on Tech Times

Roblox has agreed to sweeping platform overhauls and more than $23 million in combined settlements with the states of Alabama and West Virginia following investigations into the gaming platform’s child safety failures.

The settlements, both announced by the states’ attorneys general on Tuesday, mandate strict new safeguards designed to protect minors from online predators and inappropriate content.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who secured a $12.2 million settlement that ensures 100% of the funds will stay in the state, told FOX Business the negotiations had a twofold purpose of implementing structural changes to the platform to increase child safety and parental controls and securing monetary resources to enhance School Resource Officer (SRO) programs throughout Alabama.

“If you’re a platform online that is directing your efforts toward children as consumers, then that platform has a responsibility to ensure the safety of those young people,” Marshall said. “Whether they believe they were legally responsible or not, it’s simply the right thing to do.”

ROBLOX CEO SAYS CHILD SAFETY IS INDUSTRY-WIDE ISSUE, PLANS TOOLS TO KEEP BAD ACTORS OFF PLATFORM

The settlements force stricter safety controls and fund new programs aimed at protecting young users and supporting law enforcement. (Marijan Murat/picture alliance / Getty Images)

He added that the focus was less about long-term harm and more about looking into the future.

“The ability to obtain significant changes within the platform as a result of these settlement agreements not only enhances the safety of young people using the platform, but I think (it) creates a framework for similarly situated companies,” Marshall said. 

“I think it’s a template for other states around the country to do something similar.”

The Roblox app on a smartphone Nov. 7, 2023.  (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

ROBLOX CEO INSISTS PLATFORM IS SAFE FOR CHILDREN DESPITE LAWSUITS OVER ONLINE PREDATORS

The agreement also grants parents expanded controls, allowing them to restrict “Robux” in-game currency transfers from adults who are not trusted connections.

West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey similarly announced an $11.08 million settlement with the gaming giant on Tuesday, noting that his state’s investigation found Roblox’s previous safety designs exposed young users to grooming, sexual predators and violent content. 

McCuskey said West Virginia is heavily reinvesting its settlement payout into dedicated state safety efforts, including $2.4 million over six years to hire a West Virginia-based internet safety specialist to coordinate with local law enforcement, according to a news release.

The state will also spend $1.5 million on a three-year public safety campaign and $500,000 on safety education workshops for parents and children.

David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, presents at the Roblox Developer Conference Aug. 10, 2019, in Burlingame, Calif. (Ian Tuttle/Getty Images for Roblox / Getty Images)

LOUISIANA SUES ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM ROBLOX FOR ALLEGEDLY ENABLING CHILD PREDATORS

Despite the multimillion-dollar payouts and state investigations, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki defended the platform earlier this month during an exclusive interview with “Fox & Friends’” co-host Ainsley Earhardt.

Rejecting accusations that the platform is a playground for pedophiles, Baszucki framed the recent overhauls as a continuation of Roblox’s proactive commitment to setting a “global gold standard” for digital safety. 

He emphasized that Roblox builds in safety features “by default” ahead of legal requirements, strictly prohibits image sharing and filters all chat communications.

“Roblox is proud to have worked collaboratively with Attorney General McCuskey to reach this agreement, which builds on our ongoing mission to establish the gold standard for digital safety,” Roblox Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman wrote in a statement to FOX Business. 

“This resolution — including our support for parent educational workshops and a dedicated law enforcement liaison — serves as an important blueprint for how the technology industry and regulators can work together proactively to help protect the next generation.

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“We have no finish line when it comes to safety,” Kaufman added. “We will continue to invest heavily in our people, processes and technology to protect our community.”

McCuskey’s office did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.

Brent crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.2%, at $98.27 a barrel at 0039 GMT, after touching $99.38 earlier in the session. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $89.39, after climbing as high as $90.71.

Both benchmark contracts rose about ‌3% on Tuesday.

U.S. ⁠President Donald ⁠Trump said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, hours before its expiry, to allow talks to continue to end a war that has killed thousands and shaken the global economy.

The move appeared unilateral, and it was not immediately clear whether Iran, or U.S. ally Israel, would agree to extend the truce, which began two weeks ago.

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“With the outcome of talks still unclear and the Strait of Hormuz closed, the market lacks clear direction,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment, a ⁠unit of ‌Nissan Securities.
“Unless fighting resumes, prices are likely to stay near the current levels for now,” Kikukawa said.Trump also said the U.S. Navy would maintain its blockade of Iran’s ports ⁠and shore, which Iranian leaders have called an act of war.

There was no immediate comment from Iran’s most senior leaders on Trump’s ceasefire extension. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said Iran had not asked for the extension and repeated its position of breaking the U.S. blockade by force.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally channels about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, remained broadly halted on Tuesday with only three ships passing along the waterway in the past 24 hours, shipping data showed.

Elsewhere, ‌the Israeli military said Hezbollah fired rockets at its troops in southern Lebanon, accusing the Iran-backed group of violating a ceasefire ahead of U.S.-mediated talks with Lebanon this week. There was no immediate comment from ⁠Hezbollah.

In Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Druzhba oil pipeline pumping Russian oil onto the continent is ready to resume operation. Three industry sources, however, said Russia is set to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline starting on May 1.

Later on Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will publish inventory data.

U.S. crude oil inventory fell by 4.5 million barrels last week after three weeks of gain, while gasoline and distillate stock also declined, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

Analysts estimated a 1.2 million-barrel draw of crude for the week ended April 17.