The Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce predicts that trade and investment will improve in the fourth quarter of this year while urging for solutions to political problems and acceptance of foreign tourists.
Narongsak Puttapornmongkol, president of the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said most operators expected trade and investment would improve in the fourth quarter compared with situations in the third quarter and that would increase trade between Thailand and China.
He said that Thai exports to China in the first seven months of this year expanded by 4.5% and formed 12.8% of overall Thai exports.
Investors were closely monitoring solutions to political situations and rallies and their second biggest interest concerned the development of a vaccine to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019, Mr Narongsak said.
Most businesspeople expected a vaccine to be produced in 9-12 months at the soonest and that would boost investors’ confidence, he said.
He urged the government to quickly stimulate the economy, saying measures to promote domestic tours among Thai people would not help but the arrivals of foreign tourists would.
He suggested Thailand welcome long-stay foreign tourists in a travel bubble manner which could cover Thai and foreign cities that were free of local COVID-19 infection. He said the travel bubble could happen in a city-to-city matching fashion.
Mr Narongsak also proposed financial institutions introduce debt moratoriums and the government facilitate foreigners’ acquisition of properties to solve oversupply in the Thai property sector. (TNA)
