Corruption not only factor investors consider

Former Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said Thailand’s worsening corruption could bankrupt the country and impact the entire region. The alarm is wonderful but unlikely to scare influential Thais into becoming more fair-minded. 

According to Transparency International, in 2012 Singapore ranked 5th in terms of being clean and least corrupt. Thailand ranked 88th. However, the rankings of the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar were even worse – 105th, 118th, 123rd, 157th and 160th respectively. 

All the Asean countries worse than us have been reported as having rising foreign direct investment. I therefore beg to differ from Khun Surin’s alarm call. Corruption is not a one-and-only deciding factor that can hurt an investment climate. Other factors like political stability and efficiency in public administration, and especially the recent floods in some industrial estates, do also haunt the minds of foreign investors.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok