Foreign Business Act: Government Urged To Be Clear

[george]

Government urged to be clear towards business law amendment

BANGKOK: -- The government should have a clear policy towards amending financial and business laws to boost foreign investor confidence in investment in Thailand, according to a leading economist.

Speaking at an annual academic seminar held by the Fiscal Policy Office, Supavud Saicheua, managing director of Phatra Securities, said he saw a need for any government to clarify amendments to the laws, particularly the Foreign Business Act (FBA).

Currently, he said, legal advisors to foreign investors are not daring to advise foreign investment in Thailand because they are uncertain about the future direction under the amended FBA.

He said the former opposition Democrat Party had earlier stated it would not amend the FBA if entrusted to form the next government because it viewed the contents of the existing act as sound already.

Similarly, he said he thinks the new government should have a clear stance towards the amending the FBA.

Dr. Supavud also predicted that the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee would further cut the policy interest rate to boost the overall economy if the US Federal Reserve decided to reduce key interest rates.

He viewed the short-term interest rate could be further cut by 0.25-0.50 per cent.

Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the board of executive directors, Export-Import Bank of Thailand, said the new government must give an importance to the supervision of the currency exchange rate because the past currency volatility had caused wide-ranging impacts on many parties.

At present, there is no financial law that requires Thailand's Ministry of Finance and the central bank to work more closely together.

So, it is necessary for both agencies to push for the passage of a financial law in the National Legislative Assembly, he said.

--TNA 2007-09-18

[quiksilva]

Wouldn't it be nice if the government listened to sound advice from the business community?

[womble]

Nothing will change now, they don't have time.

[LaoPo]

Nothing will change now, they don't have time.

They better create time:

ADB (Asian Development Bank) Upgrades Developing Asia's 2007 Growth Forecast to 8.3%

BUT: "Growth in Thailand is expected to be close to the earlier estimate of 4% in 2007 as political uncertainty continues to undermine consumer and private investment confidence."

That's half of the 2007 Growth Forecast for Asia's region...

http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/121...oks/default.asp

LaoPo

[thaigene2]

No I also agree that nothing will happen now before the election, unless some very powerful people see it in their personal financial interests to do so - which as we know is very possible. But short of that, it's simply not in the establishment's interest to do anything...

But the new govt will need to act, and if it's a hung parliament with a minority govt (and looks like it may be) then who knows whether it will get better, worse or stay the same befuddled situation of uncertaininty.

They need to do a comprehensive overhaul of course - from foreign investment to retirement and work visas for professionals to property lease/condo ownership issues. Will they? Who knows - probably not.

[cclub75]

To put things into perspectives... The amendment process of FBA started... last october (officially).

(26 october 2006 :"The Minister of Commerce appoints the Foreign Business Act Committee (with 10 members) tasked with studying and proposing amendments to the FBA within 60 days.")

And since then, it's 2 steps forward, 1.6 step backward.

People are waiting... The thai authorities don't seem to know anymore what to do with this hot potato...

However, to scrap the whole idea woud be a huge loss of face. So they wait. They talk... And I believe it will be the job of the next gvt to scrap the whole project (FBA 2). Or to go ahead at full speed.

In both case, it won't be before.... february 2008 (at the very best) ! The new cabinet would be nominated in january...

And probably later, if they start again a process of revision by the parliament....

It's a concentrate of stupidity : eventually, 1 year and half without clear direction, for an essential law (for foreign investors).

Edited September 18, 2007 by cclub75