Foreign investors have pledged to invest in various projects in Thailand to the tune of 58.9 billion baht during the first seven months of this year, with those from Japan topping the list, according to Thosapone Dansuputra, director-general of the Business Development Department and secretary of the Foreign Business Committee.
Although the number of foreign investors permitted to invest in Thailand has increased by 17%, to 377, the amount of pledged investment has dropped by about 20%, from about 73.6 billion baht during a seven-month period last year.
The five top foreign investors during the seven-month period are Japan, 84 investors and 19.8 billion baht in pledged investment, the US, 67 investors and three billion baht in pledged investment, Singapore, 16 investors and 12.9 billion baht in pledged investment, China, 28 investors and 11.6 billion baht in pledged investment and Germany, 16 investors and 1.29 billion baht in pledged investment.
Thosapone said that most of the businesses in design and development of software for digital assets management, telephone application systems, manufacturing of machinery, accessories and spare parts, general machinery, research and development of automotive parts and development of online game software.
He said that these investors will bring with them technology which will be beneficial to Thailand, such as technology concerning off-shore oil drilling, tunnelling for underground trains, wind energy and electrical and electronic system design for train projects.
As for foreign investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), 73 foreign investors have shown interest, representing 19% of all the investors during the seven-month period. Pledged investment amounts to about 12.3 billion baht.
The investors include 31 from Japan, with pledged investment amounting to 5.3 billion baht, 12 from China, with pledged investment of 893 million baht, 5 from South Korea, with pledged investment of 287 million baht and 25 from other countries, with combined pledged investment of 5.7 billion baht.
