THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: Thailand’s tourism industry might be having a hard time at the moment but foreign businesses still view the kingdom as a desirable place to invest.

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) said 84 proposals worth Bt29 billion ($US848.7 million) were submitted last month, compared to 58 projects valued at Bt24 billion ($US702.3 million at the current exchange rate) for the same period last year.

The service industry and infrastructure sectors topped the requests for BOI promotional privileges, followed by the agro-industry, the metal industry, machinery manufacturing, and transportation equipment production.

The BOI said foreign investment from January to May 2009 amounted to about Bt43.5 billion (about $US1.273 billion), with businesses from Japan representing the lions share at Bt18 billion (about $US526.777 million) – mostly for projects in the electronic parts manufacturing sector.

A BOI meeting chaired on June 10 by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, approved measures to encourage investment in the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI).

The measures include tax incentives aimed at increasing the index value of the Thai stock market, strengthen and diversify listed businesses, and generate employment.

The new measures are in effect until December 31, 2012 and coincide with the Government’s second economic stimulus package, the “Thai Strength 2012” program.

The BOI has also focused on boosting the domestic automobile assembly sector with a range of benefits including tax exemption for five years for imported machinery and income tax exemption for six years.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for June 18, 2009




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