Politics tops concerns of CEOs in second half

Speaking at a seminar titled “TLCA CEO Survey: Economic Outlook for the Second Half of 2012” yesterday, Kobsak Pootrakool, executive vice president of Bangkok Bank, noted: “Many businesses, based on the survey, are very concerned about politics, while interest rates are not a big problem for them.”
About 42 per cent of the CEOs surveyed said their main concern in the next six months was over the country’s political stability, while about 38 per cent expressed some concern on this issue.
Interest rates ranked last (15th) among their concerns.
TLCA, in collaboration with KResearch, conducted a survey of CEOs at 92 companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand or the Market for Alternative Investment, covering nine industries. They were asked about the factors expected to impact their businesses in the second half of 2012.
Natural disasters and floods were the second-biggest concern in the minds of nearly one-third of the CEOs, said TLCA president Pensri Suteerasara.
About one-third of the CEOs said their biggest need from the government was to speed up its implementation of flood-management measures in both the short and long terms.
About 20 per cent agreed that political stability would strongly boost business confidence and 23 per cent wanted the government to speed up implementation of infrastructure projects to ensure higher competitiveness.

INSUFFICENT INVESTMENT
Thailand has insufficient investment in infrastructure projects, particularly logistics, said Wiwan Tharahirunchote, executive chairperson at KResearch.
“Production and administration costs will also rise, and businesses are seeking ways to manage them,” she said.
About 45 per cent of the CEOs surveyed have already implemented programmes to increase efficiency of production and services, while 55 per cent are in the process of implementation such programmes.
The highest risk to growth cited by respondents was a global economic slowdown.
Other threats to growth were political instability and higher |inflation.
Some 63 per cent of the CEOs projected some improvement for Thailand’s economic situation in the next six months, with improvements in the manufacturing sector expected. More than three-fourths forecast better performance for their business.
More than 70 per cent of CEOs surveyed expected the Thai economy to expand no less than 3 per cent this year, and more than one-third anticipated national economic growth of between 4 and 5 per cent.
About three-fourths of the top executives surveyed planned to make investments in the next 12 months, reflecting confidence in the Thai economy despite the global economic slowdown.