Prime Minister and Defense Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has emphasized investment promotion to be carried out along with COVID-19 surveillance, as the country’s economy must continue to move forward.

Prime Minister and Defense Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha

The Prime Minister has recently chaired a meeting of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), which approved measures to accelerate Thailand’s investment for 2021.

He called for greater investment promotion in the country, saying that Thai investors should also be encouraged to invest more overseas, especially in small nations and island countries, which have good potential.

The Prime Minister also stressed the need to improve the efficiency of using digital technology, particularly cloud computing and the development of data centers, as this new technology would help enhance Thailand’s competitiveness in production and service industries.

He pointed out that clean energy is likely to attract foreign investors to invest more in Thailand and that it should receive a major boost, in response to the Government’s policy to promote environmentally friendly investments.

In order to bring about quick economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, BOI is accelerating investment, especially in large projects. It agreed to offer an additional 50% corporate income tax deduction for a period of five years for investment projects worth at least one billion baht each. Qualified investors may begin to submit applications for these privileges from the beginning of 2021 until the end of the year.

In 2021, BOI also approved the extension of the period for investment promotion in 10 provinces under the special economic zones and five southern border provinces.