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Thailand’s political instability is what scares foreign investors the most, Xavier Forneris, senior investment policy officer at the World Bank (WB), said yesterday.

At a seminar hosted by the Finance Ministry, he said the instability, though downplayed by locals, is a big concern for investors, as this will lead to a lack of continuation in economic policies.

Thailand’s investment atmosphere is also tainted by corruption and poor infrastructure, he said.

These issues pose bigger concerns to international firms than investment incentives. Others are the shortage of skilled labour and low productivity.

Anti-corruption progress improving

In its continued support for the Thaipat Institute’s assessment of Thai listed companies based on the 2015 Anti-corruption Progress Indicators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has marks overall satisfactory improvement among 585 listed companies.

The rise of 13 such companies to Progress Level 5 out of 6 levels indicated extended efforts to involve stakeholders in the implementation of corporate policies against corruption of all kinds, Rapee Sucharitakul, secretary-general of the SEC, said yesterday.

The 13 Level 5 achievers are Bangchak Petroleum, Central Pattana, Goodyear (Thailand), Premier Enterprise, Premier Marketing, Premier Products, Premier Technology, PTT, PTT Global Chemical, Somboon Advance Technology, Siam Cement, Ratchthani Leasing and Thai Oil.

Passenger air

traffic rebounds

Global passenger traffic demand, as measured by revenue passenger kilometres, rose 6.5 per cent last year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

This was the strongest result since the post-global financial crisis rebound in 2010 and well above the 10-year average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent.

While economic fundamentals were weaker in 2015 than 2014, passenger demand was boosted by lower airfares. After adjusting for distortions caused by the rise of the US dollar, global airfares last year were about 5 per cent lower, Tony Tyler, director-general and CEO of IATA, said |yesterday.