Businesses under the FBA liberalised

Kanissorn Navanugraha, director-general of the Business Development Department, said yesterday that the agency was trying to ease protection in order to attract new investment.

"The plan to liberalise businesses under the FBA is part of the government's strategy to encourage foreign investment during the world economic downturn, as well as provide more flexible conditions to improve Thailand's business environment," said Kanissorn.

The department has hired the Fiscal Research Policy Office to study which businesses under the FBA's protection lists should be liberalised and which need more time for adjustment.

Kanissorn insisted that the government would not amend the Act itself, but only adjust the protected-businesses list in order to better facilitate foreign investment.

Seventeen types of businesses under consideration are engineering, construction, brokerages, retail agencies, wholesale, advertising, hotels, food and beverage retailing, computer services, warehouse control and domestic transportation, business consultancy, schools, entertainment, auction and sale brokers, pawnshops, and plant cultivation and propagation.

For these 17 types, the Commerce Ministry's Foreign Business Act committee will consider the adjustment period needed before they are opened up - three years, four to six years, or longer.

For another 22 types of business, which have their own specific regulations, the department is considering simplifying the procedure for foreign firms, enabling them to go straight to the business registration stage without further permits being required.

This category includes commercial banks, other lending institutions, insurance, fund management, businesses involving securities management, and investment consultancy.

Meanwhile, Kanissorn warned that data on the number of collapsed business and new business registrations for just one month were not important economic indicators. In order to get a meaningful trend, quarterly statistics must be considered.

The department yesterday reported that the number of collapsed businesses had increased by only 0.31 per cent last month.