Thailand Expects More Investment from China in 2016
By Prashanth Parameswaran

Finance minister says he anticipates more investment from Beijing this year after a mission there.

BANGKOK: -- Thailand is anticipating more investment from China this year, Thailand’s finance minister said this week.

China is already a significant investor in Thailand: during the first nine months of 2015, Beijing invested more than 12 billion baht (about $4 billion) into Southeast Asia’s second largest economy, making it the fourth biggest foreign investor there according to the Board of Investment (BoI). But with Thailand’s economy struggling to take off, officials have been eying even more investment from key countries, including Beijing.

The government has declared 2016 a “Special Investment Promotion Year,” with a range of investment privileges designed to woo foreign investors. These include a double depreciation expense for acquiring new assets, a fast track for the approval of public private partnerships (PPPs), and several tax deductions and exemptions.

Over the weekend, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong led a mission to Beijing to meet a group of leading Chinese investors, including China National Building Material Group and Power China Group.

Full story: http://thediplomat.com/2016/02/thailand-expects-more-investment-from-china-in-2016/

-- THE DIPLOMAT 2016-02-03

Your only hurdle is the requirement for 51% Thai ownership in any business ventures.

On a much smaller scale, trying to set up an SME here is frustrating.

I needed a credit card processing machine this week for one of my businesses - the kind that you can swipe a card as well as process just a number.

The bank said that the business needed to be operational for 2 years before I could get one. I said if I can't take credit card payments, I won't be in business 2 years. Then they said I needed a fixed deposit (untouchable) of 600,000 baht as a deposit for the machine - actually if it was just a swipe machine I did not need this. It was some sort of guarantee against a fraudulent card. They could not be moved off this, so I set up a fixed deposit.

The bank were as helpful as they could be, but Head Office were challenging.

Finally got approval for the machine to give money to the bank for my 51% Thai owned company.

Like providing loans for Thais with the paultry interest of 10% a day?

''Thailand Expects ''........famous last words !

Your only hurdle is the requirement for 51% Thai ownership in any business ventures.

Yeah, that is why most prefer Cambodia.

I can understand wanting to do business here ... sell stuff and make money. The FTA makes this option a no brainier. What I can not understand is why you would invest here when there are better options in Asia/SEAsia. I wonder if these people ever sit down and analyze the competitiveness/attractiveness of Thailand versus other Asian countries in the same way a business would. I have not seen the trend of direct foreign investment in Thsiland for a few years now but I have to think that the trend line is not looking too healthy.

ISnt Thailand being renamed to Thaijing? If not it will be soon

ISnt Thailand being renamed to Thaijing? If not it will be soon

China is only to happy to lend you buckets of yuan but if you do not repay it "Bob's Your Uncle" or China is. There are so many glaring examples of this in South America and Africa.

Which inevitably means more Chinese workers flooding the market...

ISnt Thailand being renamed to Thaijing? If not it will be soon

China is only to happy to lend you buckets of yuan but if you do not repay it "Bob's Your Uncle" or China is. There are so many glaring examples of this in South America and Africa.

Every country who lends money to another country does it to benefit itself. If the borrowing country cant repay (nd many hope they cant) then it gives the lending country more clout in controlling certain aspects that suit it

So will China be paying after all, for their medium-speed freight-line, to the Thai ports & industrial-areas ?

Rather than just lending Thailand the money, to build it themselves, as a speculative venture ?