Foreign investors in Thailand are strongly confident in the country’s potential, with more than half keen on maintaining their investment portfolios here, according to the Board of Investment (BoI).
Chokedee Kaewsang, BoI deputy secretary general, said 63 per cent of foreign investors planned to maintain their investment in the country next year and one-third, some 34 per cent, said they would expand their investment.
Those countries with the highest level of investment are Japan, China and the European Union. None of the foreign investors said they would withdraw from the kingdom, he said.
Contributing factors for their business expansion are Thailand’s readiness to support industry, raw materials, infrastructure and investment privileges
In terms of contributing factors for investment in Southeast Asia, Thailand ranked second, at 3.64 per cent, after Singapore at 3.79 per cent. Compared to other Asian countries, Thailand ranked after Japan which received 4.40 per cent and close to China at 3.66 per cent.
He said most foreign investors believed that their performance next year, whether from total revenue or revenue from domestic and international sales would be higher than this year, while their debt burden in 2013-3014 would be stable.
The BoI survey also found that 13.60 per cent of foreign investors who have set up businesses in Thailand planned to venture to other countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia.
He said some investors wanted the BoI to speed up services such as the time necessary for approval of granting an investment privilege, increasing personnel for services and giving them advice on certain problems.
