The Board of Investment (BoI) has approved a new five-year investment promotion strategy, with the aim of building Thailand's "new economy".
Under the strategy, to be implemented from 2023 to 2027, the BoI will support investments in high technologies, green and smart industries as well as businesses driven by creativity and innovation, all of which are believed to lead to the new economy and increase competitiveness, said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, newly appointed secretary-general of the BoI.
"Thailand needs a long-term strategy to drive forward its economy and high-technology, creativity and innovation-related projects will be at its core," he said.
The BoI wants to see its strategy play an essential part in making Thailand a centre for various industries, including bio-, circular and green (BCG) industries and the logistics industry.
BCG, which is aimed at encouraging manufacturers to adopt techniques that can add value to products and that have no or minimal impact on the environment, was announced by the Prayut Chan-o-cha government as a national agenda item.
During the first nine months of this year, foreign and local investors submitted applications for 1,247 projects under the BoI, an 8% year-on-year increase, but their value dipped by 14% to 439.1 billion baht.
"The investment value dropped because there have been no large investment projects this year," said Mr Narit.
So far, the BoI has approved applications for 1,101 projects, up 17% from the same period last year. Their combined investment value also increased by 57% year-on-year to 357.6 billion baht.
Key investment applications from foreign firms include those involving electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing. Among them is Chinese automaker BYD, which plans to invest 17.8 billion baht developing a factory to build EVs, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 EVs, on a 600-rai plot of land.
