Thailand still favoured by Asian, American investors

The Thai government's latest Board of Investment (BoI) survey shows that foreign investors -- especially from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States -- remain confident of Thailand's potential.

BoI Secretary General Satit Charnjavanakul said that his office had assigned Chulalongkorn University's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration to conduct the survey in February-March 2007.

Mr. Satit said 2,500 questionnaires were distributed, but only 514 organisations responded.

Of those who did respondend, almost half – 43 per cent – showed confidence in Thailand's potential and indicated they would maintain their investment at the same level.

Meanwhile, 35 per cent of the responding investors planned to expand their current investment in Thailand. The responding investors, mainly from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States, cited their confidence regarding improved exports and growing sales volumes in the second half of the year.

Still, 4 per cent of the respondents stated they were considering downsizing their businesses in Thailand or moving their ventures to any other countries.

Referring to a comparison of Thailand's potential with that of other four key competitors -- China, India,
Vietnam and Malaysia, Mr. Satit stressed that Thailand still maintains high competitiveness in terms of investment infrastructure, logistics and intellectual property protection.

However, the BoI chief said, Thailand's investment privileges might be inferior to those of China, equal
to those of Vietnam, and superior to the incentives offered by India and Malaysia.

Moreover, Thailand was ahead of other competitors in terms of oil prices, financial measures and relaxing foreign exchange rules.

Source: MCOT