BoI offers raft of incentives towards medical hub in Thailand
AS PART of the effort to turn Thailand into a medical hub, the Board of Investment yesterday approved a raft of promotions, including a five-year waiver of corporate income tax for pharmaceutical firms.
It also granted investment privileges to 34 projects worth more than Bt200 billion, including PTT’s Bt96.5-billion plan to install a natural-gas pipeline from Rayong to Nonthaburi.
Hirunya Suchinai, secretary-general of the BOI, said investors applying for tax breaks between now and next year would enjoy an eight-year waiver. Those applying after 2017 would get five years.
The board also resolved to add the tax support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises investing in medical equipment to its existing measures designed for promoting SME investment.
This means businesses applying for support to invest in medical equipment under the SME measures will gain an extra two years on top of the existing privileges under the BOI’s tax measures to support the medical-equipment industry by any company.
The BOI also considered possible tax measures to support the hospital business but needed time to study all aspects carefully.
Another highlight was PTT Global Chemical’s Bt33.95-billion expansion project for the production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene.
Earlier the BOI reported that investment in medical products in Thailand that applied for incentives surged 252 per cent to Bt5.1 billion during the past seven months from Bt1.45 billion in the same period last year.
The BOI has recently revised up the target for the value of new applications this year to Bt550 billion from Bt450 billion.
