The government’s treasury reserves rose nearly 300 billion baht at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, the Finance Ministry reported on Monday.
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Treasury reserves up nearly B300bn
Infrastructure services, if quickly improved, could promote a better investment climate in Thailand
Nevertheless, Thailand performs well compared to other countries in the region on many aspects of government regulations and regulatory procedures that facilitate business. According to the latest annual World Bank’s Doing Business report, in 2008 Thailand ranks 13th among over 180 countries and 4th in East Asia in the ease of doing business. The ease of doing business is measured by quantitative indicators of regulatory requirements and procedures in ten areas in the life cycle of typical small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the largest city in a country. They include, for example, the number days, steps, and cost needed to obtain business licenses, registering property, clear customs, pay taxes, and close a business. It only takes 2 steps and 2 days to register property in Thailand, on of the fastest in the world. Progress over the recent years has been particularly on the improvements in the customs process after the introduction of the internet-based customs clearance system, which has reduced the number of required documents and time taken to clear customs for exports.
Infrastructure services, if quickly improved, could promote a better investment climate in ThailandThe performance of Thailand’s telecommunications sector has come a long way in the last decade, particularly in terms of availability and use of affordable telephone service and growth of internet access. The telecommunications sector in Thailand is dominated by mobile communications. There are about 43 million mobile subscribers versus approximately 7 million fixedlines. Furthermore, growth in the mobile market remains strong compared to the fixed market, which is stagnant. Broadband network infrastructure is growing rapidly; however, it is still insignificant.
Treasury reserves up nearly B300bn
Revenue has fallen well below target during FY2009 as the domestic recession eroded government income from sources such as import duties and value- added tax. Parliament in June passed emergency legislation authorizing additional government borrowing beyond limits set under the budget law and it approved new debt issues of up to B800 billion. Monetary stimulus came from aggressive reductions in interest rates by the Bank of Thailand: from the start of December 2008 to April 2009 it lowered its policy rate by 250 basis points to 1.25%.
