Investment to help economy next year, JSCCIB says
The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) believes business confidence will tend to improve after 2016 was announced as the year of investment.
Infrastructure investment projects will be pushed as a key engine to drive the economy.
If the projects go ahead as planned, more than Bt100 billion, aside from Bt540 billion from the state investment budget itself, will be injected into the economic system, said the JSCCIB, which comprises the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) and the Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA).
This could improve economic activities, Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand and the TCC and of the JSCCIB, said after the standing committee’s meeting yesterday.
The committee met to discuss October’s economic situation, which recovered somewhat from the acceleration of government spending, particularly for small projects under the short-term stimulus, and improvements in tourism.
Private investment improved in non-durable staple goods, but overall consumption remained low.
October’s exports contracted by 8.1 per cent partly because of last year’s high base. Almost all categories of export products were in negative territory in line with slowdowns in all major markets.
In the first 10 months of this year, Thai exports contracted by 5.3 per cent. This sluggish performance was in line with other exporting countries in the region.
The JSCCIB will hold talks with the Interior Ministry on provincial joint public-private committees, which could play a key role in conveying economic measures and policy to the provinces.
The JSCCIB has been monitoring the ease of doing business in Thailand, particularly enterprise establishment, construction approvals, tax payments, exports and imports, visa and work-permit regulations, and urban planning that has hindered expansion of plants and business operations.
The committee set up a working group to study urban-planning problems and legal impacts and to make short- and long-term recommendations for the state sector. The working group consists of the TCC, the FTI, the TBA and other relevant units.
