Thailand expecting at least US$29 billion in investment applications this year

THAILAND expects to secure at least US$28.8 billion worth of investment applications this year, the government said on Monday (Jan 13), as it seeks to attract more investors to help boost South-east Asia’s second-largest economy.

In 2024, investment applications rose 35 per cent annually to 1.14 trillion baht (S$45 billion), a 10-year-high, led by foreign investment in data centres and cloud services, the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) said.

Investors still see Thailand as a safe and suitable place for long-term investment, BOI Secretary General Narit Therdsteerasukdi said.

“Investment still has a good direction this year... There will be more investment relocation this year,” he added.

Investment pledges are expected to exceed five trillion baht in a five-year plan starting in 2023, beating an original target of three trillion baht, Narit said.

Companies have been moving factories from China to South-east Asia, anticipating president-elect Donald Trump would slap high tariffs on Beijing.

In 2024, foreign investment pledges increased 25 per cent year on year to 832 billion baht, the BOI said.

Singapore was the top foreign direct investment (FDI) source with 305 projects, mostly in digital services and electronics manufacturing, with an investment value of 357.5 billion baht, or 43 per cent of total FDI applications, the BOI said.

China was the second-largest source of FDI applications with 810 projects worth 174.6 billion baht, led by printed circuit boards, automotive and metal products manufacturing businesses.

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Narit said the government would introduce qualified refundable tax credit measures to ease the impact of a global minimum corporate tax of 15 per cent on multinational enterprises, which took effect on Jan 1.

The global tax could affect about 1,000 companies but not all would have to pay additional tax, he said.

“We need to look at the details to see how much they are paying,” he added.

Thailand’s corporate tax is currently set at 20 per cent, but companies receiving BOI incentives can get an exemption of up to 13 years.