Foreign Investors Still Keen To Invest In Thailand

[Boater]

LONDON, April 25 (TNA) - Despite economic sluggish and political turmoil in Thailand, most foreign investors are still willing to invest in this country as they watch the government’s policy and see how it solve problems prevailing in the country first, according to Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij.

In his speech during an investor roadshow in London on Thursday and Friday, Mr. Korn told investors from 30 institutions commanding about US$1 trillion that Thailand is now impacted by the global economic slump which has impacted its exports.

Current political unrest in Thailand has deteriorated tourism industry and consumer confidence, he said. However, Thai monetary sector remains strong because non-performing loans of the banking system stays at less than 6 per cent of total assets.

The Thai finance minister said that foreign investors believed that Thailand’s economy should recover faster than many other countries due to its strong economic fundamentals and monetary stability, and that Thailand should become more attractive for investment if the government succeeds in implementing political reforms and economic policy.

Mr. Korn said foreign investors were interested in the Thai government’s plans to invest in mega-projects and inquired regarding funding sources for these projects.

He told them that Thailand preferred to borrow from domestic financial institutions because of their high liquidity -- now Bt1.4 trillion -- while overseas debts stand at only 12 per cent of the public debt.

Domestic or foreign borrowings are not obstacle to Thai government’s plans on investment, he said.

After the road show in London, Mr. Korn travelled to Washington, DC to attend a World Bank meeting, meet American investors and call on U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to exchange views on ways to tackle economic problems. (TNA)

http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=9644

[Deez]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

[JR Texas]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

Total BS......Thailand's economy has been in decline for several years and its annual rate of growth is the lowest in the region.

Other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are generating far more investor interest. And, yes, I have the statistics but please don't ask me to post them (getting boring).

How to fix the problem:

1) alter the business rules by making it easy for foreigners to establish small scale businesses (the backbone of most economies);

2) abrogate the visa rule changes that have taken place over the past nine years to make Thailand expat/business/tourism friendly;

3) implement true democracy w/ the rule of law firmly in place and freedom of expression written in stone (next election should be held under the supervision of UN monitors);

4) demolish the education system (top to bottom) and start over following the advice of foreign experts.

[Deez]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

Total BS......Thailand's economy has been in decline for several years and its annual rate of growth is the lowest in the region.

Other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are generating far more investor interest. And, yes, I have the statistics but please don't ask me to post them (getting boring).

How to fix the problem:

1) alter the business rules by making it easy for foreigners to establish small scale businesses (the backbone of most economies);

2) abrogate the visa rule changes that have taken place over the past nine years to make Thailand expat/business/tourism friendly;

3) implement true democracy w/ the rule of law firmly in place and freedom of expression written in stone (next election should be held under the supervision of UN monitors);

4) demolish the education system (top to bottom) and start over following the advice of foreign experts.

Agree with all four 100%. They might want to work on the corruption a bit too.

[neil324]

All spin, load of <deleted>.

[thaimate]

tell that to the dozens of companys on the Rayong eastern seaboard estate that are pulling out.

[loverboy44]

Wishful thinking!

There are no investors and if there are they surely invest in developed countries like Abu Dabi did with Daimler because of the low price per share.

[Time Traveller]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

Total BS......Thailand's economy has been in decline for several years and its annual rate of growth is the lowest in the region.

Other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are generating far more investor interest. And, yes, I have the statistics but please don't ask me to post them (getting boring).

How to fix the problem:

1) alter the business rules by making it easy for foreigners to establish small scale businesses (the backbone of most economies);

2) abrogate the visa rule changes that have taken place over the past nine years to make Thailand expat/business/tourism friendly;

3) implement true democracy w/ the rule of law firmly in place and freedom of expression written in stone (next election should be held under the supervision of UN monitors);

4) demolish the education system (top to bottom) and start over following the advice of foreign experts.

I dare say that Thailand will never welcome foreigners to establish small businesses. Why would any country do that as it's political suicide. They do have a policy to encourage foreign investment in large projects or by world leading companies, e.g Sony, Microsoft, cisco, toyota for example. And actively encourage such companies to set up regional headquarters or manufacturing plants, r&d centres etc. These have advantage of providing large scale employment, as well as knowledge transfer and training. In general, small businesses don't do that, so there is no benefit for the country to let small foreign businesses in to compete with existing local businesses.

Regarding the current attractiveness for foreign investment in thailand. It is at least partly true. While it might not be attractive in the current environment for honda or gm to expand the capacity of their car assembly plant, for fund managers and other insititutions with large amounts, thailand is very attractive place to invest at the moment. Why? Because of the fact that asset prices have been beaten down some much in the last couple of years. There are quite a few large names that are happy to invest at the current prices, but they tend not to advertise what they are planning to do nor care too much about politics. Buying at low prices is more important.

[loverboy44]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

Total BS......Thailand's economy has been in decline for several years and its annual rate of growth is the lowest in the region.

Other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are generating far more investor interest. And, yes, I have the statistics but please don't ask me to post them (getting boring).

How to fix the problem:

1) alter the business rules by making it easy for foreigners to establish small scale businesses (the backbone of most economies);

2) abrogate the visa rule changes that have taken place over the past nine years to make Thailand expat/business/tourism friendly;

3) implement true democracy w/ the rule of law firmly in place and freedom of expression written in stone (next election should be held under the supervision of UN monitors);

4) demolish the education system (top to bottom) and start over following the advice of foreign experts.

I dare say that Thailand will never welcome foreigners to establish small businesses. Why would any country do that as it's political suicide. They do have a policy to encourage foreign investment in large projects or by world leading companies, e.g Sony, Microsoft, cisco, toyota for example. And actively encourage such companies to set up regional headquarters or manufacturing plants, r&d centres etc. These have advantage of providing large scale employment, as well as knowledge transfer and training. In general, small businesses don't do that, so there is no benefit for the country to let small foreign businesses in to compete with existing local businesses.

Regarding the current attractiveness for foreign investment in thailand. It is at least partly true. While it might not be attractive in the current environment for honda or gm to expand the capacity of their car assembly plant, for fund managers and other insititutions with large amounts, thailand is very attractive place to invest at the moment. Why? Because of the fact that asset prices have been beaten down some much in the last couple of years. There are quite a few large names that are happy to invest at the current prices, but they tend not to advertise what they are planning to do nor care too much about politics. Buying at low prices is more important.

Again! Wishful thinking. Why should anyone invest in a country where airports can be closed by a mob or people can be killed without further investigation because of table money if someone could invest in, for example, Siemens shares for small money right now?

[JR Texas]

Well, I wouldn't expect him to tell the truth. lol

I don't believe it. I cannot see how anyone could be anxious to invest here.

Total BS......Thailand's economy has been in decline for several years and its annual rate of growth is the lowest in the region.

Other countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are generating far more investor interest. And, yes, I have the statistics but please don't ask me to post them (getting boring).

How to fix the problem:

1) alter the business rules by making it easy for foreigners to establish small scale businesses (the backbone of most economies);

2) abrogate the visa rule changes that have taken place over the past nine years to make Thailand expat/business/tourism friendly;

3) implement true democracy w/ the rule of law firmly in place and freedom of expression written in stone (next election should be held under the supervision of UN monitors);

4) demolish the education system (top to bottom) and start over following the advice of foreign experts.

I dare say that Thailand will never welcome foreigners to establish small businesses. Why would any country do that as it's political suicide. They do have a policy to encourage foreign investment in large projects or by world leading companies, e.g Sony, Microsoft, cisco, toyota for example. And actively encourage such companies to set up regional headquarters or manufacturing plants, r&d centres etc. These have advantage of providing large scale employment, as well as knowledge transfer and training. In general, small businesses don't do that, so there is no benefit for the country to let small foreign businesses in to compete with existing local businesses.

Regarding the current attractiveness for foreign investment in thailand. It is at least partly true. While it might not be attractive in the current environment for honda or gm to expand the capacity of their car assembly plant, for fund managers and other insititutions with large amounts, thailand is very attractive place to invest at the moment. Why? Because of the fact that asset prices have been beaten down some much in the last couple of years. There are quite a few large names that are happy to invest at the current prices, but they tend not to advertise what they are planning to do nor care too much about politics. Buying at low prices is more important.

You seem to overlook the fact that large scale businesses were once small scale businesses. 7-11 is a good example.

I would also like to point out that in virtually all of the major economies the bulk of job creation comes from small scale employers, not large scale MNCs.

What Thailand needs is to relax its rules with regard to small scale businesses owned and operated by foreigners. If they did that, creativity and competition would be interjected into the now faltering economy.

Had they done this 20 years ago, Thailand would be more like S. Korea, Japan, and Singapore today. The masses would be much better off.

Successful countries are open to competition.........the evidence for this is everywhere.

[Time Traveller]

You seem to overlook the fact that large scale businesses were once small scale businesses. 7-11 is a good example.

I would also like to point out that in virtually all of the major economies the bulk of job creation comes from small scale employers, not large scale MNCs.

What Thailand needs is to relax its rules with regard to small scale businesses owned and operated by foreigners. If they did that, creativity and competition would be interjected into the now faltering economy.

Had they done this 20 years ago, Thailand would be more like S. Korea, Japan, and Singapore today. The masses would be much better off.

Successful countries are open to competition.........the evidence for this is everywhere.

Well whether it's what thailand needs or not, i'm just suggesting it will not happen. Can you imagine how it would make people feel if every second shop/business was owned by foreigners. The period of time before and after WWII there was large animosity towards chinese owned businesses and business people in siam - even to the point of causing riots. You think that thai people have become more enlightened about this since then? I think not, and I don't think that Japan, Korea or even western countries (think Chinese/Arab money that tried to buy US/UK/Aussie companies) are very welcoming towards foreign investment until very late in the 20th century, even still if you've ever tried to do business with Japanese you'll know that they'll always favour japanese company over the foreign owned.

The exception to this rule is when the foreign company brings technology into the country concerned.

In general, countries improve the standard of living by working more efficiently. If foreign business are not seen as adding some sort of value added component then they're probably seen just to be competiting with thai companies - hence the reason why such businesses are not welcomed. While I also favour open investment policy, I don't think the thai's do.

[Time Traveller]

Again! Wishful thinking. Why should anyone invest in a country where airports can be closed by a mob or people can be killed without further investigation because of table money if someone could invest in, for example, Siemens shares for small money right now?

The answer is if investor can buy assets cheaper (given a certain risk profile), then they'll invest.

A car maker or palm oil producer doesn't really care if an airport is closed, on the other hand a hotel chain or airline definitely will. Each has their own individual concerns. While the loudest people always seem to be the tourism sector, other sectors are affected more by external factors than than local e.g agricultural, auto, electronics

Agreed that there's many other countries that have very under valued assets also. But just suggesting that not all foreign investors care about these things as much as they care about buying into businesses cheaply. It's not wishful thinking, just reality of investing. What may seem terrible for one sector - such as tourism - may be not be so terrible for other industries.

[loverboy44]

Again! Wishful thinking. Why should anyone invest in a country where airports can be closed by a mob or people can be killed without further investigation because of table money if someone could invest in, for example, Siemens shares for small money right now?

The answer is if investor can buy assets cheaper (given a certain risk profile), then they'll invest.

A car maker or palm oil producer doesn't really care if an airport is closed, on the other hand a hotel chain or airline definitely will. Each has their own individual concerns. While the loudest people always seem to be the tourism sector, other sectors are affected more by external factors than than local e.g agricultural, auto, electronics

Agreed that there's many other countries that have very under valued assets also. But just suggesting that not all foreign investors care about these things as much as they care about buying into businesses cheaply. It's not wishful thinking, just reality of investing. What may seem terrible for one sector - such as tourism - may be not be so terrible for other industries.

I agree to a lot you say if we would have a normal economical situation. Most investors who invested in the past, lost a lot of their capital. The banks they may contact will not give them capital to make new investments.

So what's left? The Emirates and some other Regions that still have. Russia is in terrible trouble.

By the way , just read that Katar wants to buy themselves into Porsche. And that underlines my words.

Maybe in agriculture i would see it differently.

[midas]

When it comes to LOS - ignore the figures and just rely on what the

Foreign Minister tells you

Thai economy strong despite some poor figures

Thailand's tourist arrivals stood at 3.7 million in the first quarter of this year, down 14.7 per cent from the same period last year due to global economic crisis and political problems, according to the Finance Ministry's economic report.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/04/29...ss_30101636.php

[Gary A]

All propaganda. The scary part is that the politicians are not getting fat enough from industrial payoffs so they will now concentrate on stealing from the farmers.