Economy and industry

The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) is advising the government against setting up a national shipping firm in a bid to boost Thailand’s competitiveness.Phumin Harinsut, TCC’s vice-chairman, said Thailand had established a shipping company in the World War II era which was eventually closed in ...

Thailand’s exports are expected to rise more than 7% in the third quarter from a year earlier and 6% in the final quarter of the year, lifted by higher global demand and a weaker baht, the Thai National Shippers’ Council said on Tuesday.Exports could grow ...

Thai exports via a new online channel totalled 10.152 billion baht in the first half of 2021, the Department of International Trade Promotion reported on Monday.The online export platform www.thaifex-vts.com was used at the THAIFEX Virtual Trade Show on May 25 and will operate until ...

The Tourism and Sports Ministry plans to ask the Finance Ministry for 10 billion baht in soft loans to help operators prepare their businesses for the mid-October reopening deadline.Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister, said if the Phuket sandbox operates smoothly, his ministry will ...

Surveyors are designing a route for a new expressway in Laos that will cut travel time between northern Thailand and southern China.Liu Jingwei, an official overseeing the project, said officials were surveying the route for the expressway that will connect Huayxai in Laos’ Bokeo province ...

Thailand’s household debt has hit an 18-year high after rising to 90.5% of GDP in the first quarter.Kasikorn Research Center (K-Research) reported Thailand’s outstanding household debt increased to 14.13 trillion baht in the first quarter of 2021, or 90.5% of GDP, the highest level in ...

Airports of Thailand (AoT) is saying that it is ready to welcome international tourists under the Phuket sandbox tourism scheme, while revealing that air traffic at six of its airports dropped by 71% in the last fiscal year to the Covid-19 pandemic.These comprise Suvarnabhumi, Don ...

Thailand’s foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to recover next year, especially for hotels, tourism and other sectors such as electronics and wafer fabrication for which the Board of Investment has offered attractive tax breaks.Speaking at an online seminar “Key Findings Of UNCTAD World Investment ...

The United States has downgraded Thailand’s attempts to tackle human trafficking, with the use of forced labour a major concern.The latest US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report demotes Thailand from Tier 2 to the Tier 2 Watchlist for the first time in four years.The report ...

Only Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with a chance to survive will qualify for the loan rehabilitation scheme to cope with the economic impact from the Covid-19 crisis, said the Bank of Thailand governor on Friday.“Not all enterprises that receive credit will survive. We must ...