Capital market wants new finance minister to tweak SSF regulations to woo investors

Fetco chairman Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn said the federation would listen to the new finance minister's proposals to know if the government wanted to also use the capital market to enable economic recovery.

He said the Investor Confidence Index in the next three months was 61.27, down 9 per cent from the previous month and the lowest in eight months.

The SSF is a government-led initiative launched on April 1 that aims to encourage Thais to save and invest. They can claim a 30 per cent tax deduction on contributions, capped at Bt200,000 a year. They have to hold the investment for 10 years to avail of the tax benefit.

"Investors hope for economic growth, the government's policy and fund flow, while they were worried about political unrest, the economic slowdown and the Covid-19 outbreak," he explained.

"Meanwhile, investors were interested in food and beverage businesses but were not interested in the banking business."

Thai Bond Market Association (ThaiBMA) executive vice president Ariya Tiranaprakit expected the Monetary Policy Committee to maintain the key interest rate at 0.5 per cent and launch measures to stimulate the economy during their meeting this month.

She added that the amount of bonds issued was currently Bt630 billion.

"We expect the amount of bonds issued to hit Bt700 billion, down from the expected Bt800 billion, as large companies have sought loans from commercial banks instead of issuing bonds," she said.