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INVESTMENT
VICHAYA PITSUWAN
The Board of Investment (BoI) is maintaining its full-year target of 600 billion baht worth of investment applications despite falling short of its first-half goal.
Industry Minister Suwit Khunkitti said he was still hopeful that protracted political tensions would have only a slight effected on the investment climate in the second half.
The BoI said that in the first half of the year 640 projects worth 203.7 billion baht sought investment incentives, a decrease of 11.6% in value from the same period last year.
Despite the disappointing figures, Mr Suwit said his optimism was based on an expectation that investments would shift into Asean from China, where tougher labour laws have pushed up costs.
He believes that sound investment policies, good infrastructure and supportive legal measures make Thailand a competitive destination in Asean.
''Don't be worried by the figures,'' he said. ''There are a number of large projects waiting for BoI board consideration, including an upstream steel investment project, automobiles and auto parts, electrical and electronics and petrochemical projects,'' he said.
The minister also hopes to see more foreign investment in the local food industry as Thailand is capable of helping to shore up the world food supply.
''Additional investment in the processed food industry is also expected from our major trading partners such as Japan as they want to shift away from substandard Chinese food imports.''
Mr Suwit also hopes to see 36 non-operating ethanol licensees start their projects now that the government is promoting alternative fuels more.
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