Large corporations have kick-started their investment spree while smaller ones are still cautious about pouring money into new investment, says Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong.
Private investment is a crucial engine that the government has sought to jump-start in order to reach at least 5% economic growth in the long run, up from the current 3-4%.
Medium-sized companies may not be strong enough to splash out on investment and this has deterred them from new investment, he said, adding that the government is pushing large companies to help them and draw them to invest.
The private sector may consider investment at the moment will incur additional costs but, in fact, the current economic environment is favourable to investment due to lower financial costs and cheap raw materials, he said.
"We should not have to wait for the economic recovery before investing. When that day comes, other countries will make advancements and investment will be drawn to those countries," said Mr Apisak.
Current investment is to improve production efficiency, which is at the heart of driving the economy, he said, adding that countries smaller or less developed than Thailand have already started investing to boost efficiency.
He said investment is expected to improve next year, but that depends on the private sector as the government has already prepared for their investment.
In another development, Mr Apisak soothed jitters by attributing the rise in the unemployment rate to 1.08% in the three months to June to seasonal factors as part of the workforce returned to rural areas to plant crops.
The government would not unveil fresh assistance measures for small and medium-sized enterprises as the previous measures are sufficient to alleviate the impact of the economic slowdown, he said.
Business operators must learn to stand by themselves and the government does not have enough money to support them, he said.
Meanwhile, Verasak Supprasert, director-general of the Industry Ministry's Office of Industrial Economics, said July's manufacturing production index dropped 5.1% due largely to a slowdown in the automotive, garment, plastic and rubber sectors.
Production of cars and engines last month dropped 8.4% and 12.6%, respectively, due to weaker demand for pickup trucks, while the production of garments and textiles dropped 24.6% due to falling demand from Japan and the European Union, whose economies have yet to fully recover.
However, some industries saw a better performance in July, including the food and agricultural processing sector, as the recent drought that cut raw materials has subsided, while the cement sector enjoyed rising demand due to the government investment in infrastructure projects.