BANGKOK, Nov 25 – Foreign investors remain confident in Thailand’s investment climate and will not shift their investments elsewhere, despite months of severe flooding in the kingdom.
Industry Minister Chawarat Channukul gave his reassurance Friday after meeting with foreign investors, including Japanese investors.
Some foreign investors have turned to Cambodia as part of their pre-flood unskilled-labour investment plan, he said, indicating that their actions were unrelated to the severe floods which inundated major industrial estates in Thailand.
The minister declined to comment when asked whether the relocation of some business investment was the result of the government’s planned daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht.
Meanwhile, the Board of Investment (BoI) reported that so far no foreign investors have waived privileges granted by the BoI in order to shift their investment overseas.
The agency said the total number of applications seeking BoI privileges over the past 10 months is valued at Bt478 billion, up 23 per cent year-on-year.
The applications for BoI privileges will likely top Bt500 billion at the end of this year, the BoI said.
