Foreign firms plan to keep investing here
Foreign investors are still confident of either staying in Thailand or investing more here, largely in the automotive sector, electronics and agricultural industry, according a survey by the Board of Investment (BoI.
However, the survey was conducted before the new government took office and the policy to raise the minimum wage was confirmed. The survey also found that about 3.5 per cent of the 404 respondents planned to scale down their investments.
The BoI sent questionnaires to about 6,000 foreign companies, of which 404 responded to the survey, which targeted entrepreneurs who own at least a 20-per-cent stake in their company. Recipients and non-recipients of BoI incentives were included in the poll.
Secretary-general Atchaka Sibunruang said yesterday that the BoI conducted the survey from February to June. Nearly 50 per cent of the respondents said they would maintain their investments in Thailand, while about 47 per cent plan to increase them.
About 3.5 per cent, mostly in the textile, ornaments and leather industries, plan to scale down their investments in the Kingdom.
For about 18 per cent of those planning to expand their investments here, the increases would be substantial. These are in the chemical, electronics, service and metals industries.
The respondents stated that they were happy with the appropriate wage levels, the easy access to funds, and land-ownership rights offered in Thailand.
"The rise of the minimum wage to Bt300 was not a factor in the survey, since we conducted it in the first half of the year. If we conducted the survey now, the result might have changed a little bit, as some companies will be affected by the higher wage, while some will not," she said.
Weaknesses
Atchaka said the weaknesses for investing in Thailand in the foreigners' view were the underdeveloped telecommunication system and logistics network and uncertain government policies. Vietnam seems to be superior to Thailand in the latter factor.
Arunee Teotrakool, deputy managing director of InfoSearch, a marketing-survey company that handled this job, said the number of respondents this year was lower than last year's 500-600 as the fieldwork took place around the time of the tsunami disaster in Japan. The response rate from Japanese firms in Thailand was only 50 per cent, compared with the normal rate of 80 per cent.
However, the survey result is claimed to be reliable, as the 404 respondents represented the major industrial sectors and answered all the questions required for the survey.
