BoI eyes new schemes to woo investment, foreign talent

By The Nation

 

BoI secretary-general Duangjai Asawachintachit

 

The Board of Investment (BoI) is planning to come up with several schemes to woo investors and help those affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, BoI secretary-general Duangjai Asawachintachit said on Tuesday.

 

She added that BoI will propose next month that its board consider adding clinical study as a new type of medical equipment business that can enjoy tax privileges. She said clinical study is one of the fundamentals of the medical equipment industry.

 

Applications for BoI tax support in the production of medical equipment has surged after it began offering certain additional benefits to investors in April.

 

The BoI offered these extra benefits to those who are committed to investing within this year and plan to sell more than 50 per cent of their products domestically.

 

Between May and August this year, BoI has received applications for investment worth Bt13 billion in the production of medical equipment.

 

The BoI will also propose the launching of measures to help investors retain their employees during the ongoing crisis.

 

BoI will also revise its smart-visa policy, making it easier to woo more foreign talent to work in Thailand.

 

Thailand’s smart-visa programme was launched to woo skilled workers, investors, executives and start-up entrepreneurs to work in targeted industries here.

 

The government’s Centre for Economic Situation Administration on September 16 approved in principle amendments to the criteria of granting smart visa to foreigners in a bid to woo more investment. 

 

Related story: Govt eyes new visa rules in bid to woo investors

 

The value of the projects applying for BoI support during the first half of this year was Bt158 billion, down 17 per cent year on year. Duangjai believes investment will improve next year as Thailand’s economy has bottomed out.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30395331

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-09-30

 

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and plan to sell more than 50 per cent of their products domestically.

 

Shocking how inept and clueless the people in these positions are.

"to woo investment".....

Much prefer the traditional "lure" ....sounds much more cunning

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The BoI offered these extra benefits to those who are committed to investing within this year and plan to sell more than 50 per cent of their products domestically.

Always the catch, never a , come here set up a business and it's yours.

Instead it's tied up with paperwork, ownership status, employee issues & now who you can sell your products too.

What I would like to see are some Smart Visa key figures. Based on what I've read about this "scheme", I suspect that it hasn't been very successful, so I would really like to know how many smart visas have been issued so far and what their distribution across types, industries and companies is.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

to woo more foreign talent to work in Thailand.

2 hours ago, Caldera said:

What I would like to see are some Smart Visa key figures. Based on what I've read about this "scheme", I suspect that it hasn't been very successful, so I would really like to know how many smart visas have been issued so far and what their distribution across types, industries and companies is.

I'm not sure exactly in what topic, but the numbers were posted elsewhere in these forums. IIRC it was around 50 smart visas granted in total or something. So indeed it's not a very successful program.

 

Initially I thought the smart visa could be interesting for me, but when I read the requirements I got tired just thinking about the whole application process. 

 

What Thailand really should work on is a digital nomad visa. Some European countries already grant such a visa (e.g. Estonia) and other European countries will likely follow suit soon (e.g. Croatia). Many digital nomads like to stay and work from Thailand. It's time Thailand makes this legal without jumping through many complicated hoops. 

Scrap BOI and apply the rules to all companies. Otherwise, forget it.