BANGKOK, April 26 – Twenty-nine foreign business operators were granted permission to invest in Thailand with a combined capital investment of Bt5 billion (US$175 million) and hiring 662 Thai workers, a Commerce Ministry official said.
Ittipol Changlum, deputy director general of the Business Development Department, said 17 applicants, nearly 60 per cent of the businesses, were in the service industry with an investment of Bt4.83 billion (US$167 million).
The investors are from Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany, the British Virgin Islands, the Netherlands and South Korea.
The applications, approved on Wednesday, involved seven representative business with a total investment of Bt22 million (US$.76 million), three retail business at Bt52 million (US$1.8 million), one wholesale business at Bt9 million (US$300,000), and a joint business with the public sector at Bt165 million (US$5.7 million).
Permissions for foreign investors in April were 17 per cent lower than the preceding month but total investment was 207 per cent higher.
In the first four months of this year, 128 foreign investors have been legally allowed to set up their businesses in Thailand with a combined investment of Bt8.73 billion (US$301 million). The number of investors increased by 16 per cent and investment value by 168 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.
