Legal amendment to help BOI draw in more foreign talent

Secretary-general Hiranya Sujinai said that to promote human-capital development to facilitate the next stage of economic development, the BOI agreed that it should go beyond extending corporate-tax privileges to granting personal-income-tax exemptions as well. She said the amendment would enable the BOI, on a case-by-case basis, to attract “truly world-class researchers and experts”.

The draft law is currently under consideration by the Council of State. 

There is no conclusion yet on the rate of income-tax exemptions as relevant agencies will look into details of the matter, she said.

The BOI yesterday also agreed to open its first two overseas offices to promote and support Thai investments abroad, in Myanmar and Vietnam in fiscal 2017, and a third in Jakarta in 2018.

“We have 14 overseas offices but all of them are for attracting foreign investments to Thailand. We have no offices yet to help take care of Thai investors abroad,” Hiranya said.

 

29 major projects approved 

The BOI’s main board yesterday approved 29 major projects with combined investment value of more than Bt101 billion. 

One-third of that, Bt32.1 billion, is for agriculture and agro-industry projects, including three applications valued at a total of Bt18.2 billion from Benjamin William Bootle, who proposes to invest in production of lactose-free raw milk, organic fertiliser, and biogas. To be located in Lop Buri, the three projects will use local raw materials worth a total of Bt12.9 billion annually.

The BOI also approved a Thai-Chinese joint venture to invest Bt13.57 billion in tyre production in Rayong, comprising 1.2 million tonnes per year of truck and bus radial tyres and 30,000 tonnes per year of off-road tyres used in construction and mining industries.

Hiranya said that during the first five months of the year, the BOI had approved 504 projects with a combined investment value of Bt229 billion, four times the amount in the same period last year. The BOI’s full-year target is Bt450 billion. 

Japanese remained the largest investors in Thailand, followed by Chinese investors, she said.

Nevertheless, according to a survey by the BOI, actual investments totalled Bt107 billion in the first quarter, since most of them were applications approved a year or two earlier, she said.

“Earlier, we had estimated that the actual investments for the whole year would be no less than Bt650 billion. We have reported this survey to the board and will follow up closely to hasten actual investments,” she said.