State enterprises must pump more money into provinces, Somkid orders

He assigned executives to come up with investment plans for the 2018 fiscal year.He said such investments had played a significant role in boosting the economy this year.
The combined assets of 56 state enterprises are worth Bt13 trillion and produce annual revenues of Bt5 trillion. 
The enterprises pump Bt100 billion in the state coffers each year and their combined capital spending is Bt470 billion a year.
Somkid said the new investments should not focus too much on profit-making but on boosting provincial economies.
To support the state enterprises, the government will review key performance indicators to make them suitable for new investments by shifting the focus from profit-making to regional economic development. 
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong admitted that large investors were not interested in investing in special economic zones along the border areas. 
He said that was because there was a high cost for transportation and logistics, so the government would make changes to the special economic zone plan to promote small and medium-sized Industries in the provinces instead.