Duangjai Asawachintachit, Secretary-general, the Board of Investment (Photo: Bangkok Post) Foreign direct investment (FDI) projects had a combined application value of 279 billion THB in the January-June period, up almost four-fold from a year earlier, the Board of Investment (BOI) said in a statement on August 9.
Japan, the United States and China were the top three source countries of FDI applications, it said.
"We feel encouraged by the fact that so many foreign investors, including many new ones chose to invest in Thailand at a time when the global investment environment remains challenging due to the continued impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," said BoI head Duangjai Asawachintachit was cited by Reuters as saying.
"That demonstrates investors’ confidence in Thailand’s strengths in key industries, such as electronics, medical supplies and biotech," she said.
In the first half of 2021, the electrical and electronics sector attracted the most investment with 61 billion THB of projects, up 136 percent year-on-year. The medical sector came in second with projects worth 43 billion THB, more than triple that of a year earlier.
Last year, combined domestic and FDI pledges dropped 30 percent to 481 billion THB, with FDI applications down 54 percent to 213 billion THB as firms were put off by the pandemic./.
VNA
