THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Bad time to restrict foreign investment

Bad time to restrict foreign investment

Re: "Foreign ownership regulations need to be changed, says SEC", Business, November 10.

The report from Erich Parpart is a refreshing tonic after the reports of your competitor that the Commerce Ministry intends restricting foreign business operators in Thailand. I am perplexed by the initiative against foreign business, at a time when our economy is in the doldrums and full of political uncertainties. 
SEC deputy secretary-general Tipsuda Thavaramara’s idea of “relaxing foreign ownership to attract more foreign investors” is a call to the Commerce Ministry to come to their senses and reminds them of bad timing. The motive may be to please their superiors, but unfortunately their initiative will hurt our economy 
The SEC’s Tipsuda is spot on in being liberal. Three decades ago, businessmen’s external source of funding was almost exclusively bankers. Today bankers play a less important role thanks to funds via the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Of the 330,000 companies registered with the Commerce Ministry, 600 SET companies, which are supervised by the SEC, pay one-third of the total corporate income tax of Bt600,000 million (on average, each SET company pays Bt330 million) while 329,400 companies pay two-thirds (Bt1.2 million each).
Songdej Praditsmanont
 
nationthailand