The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) hosted “Thailand Focus 2018: The Future is Now” reinforcing present and future investment opportunities Thailand has to offer to global investors. Institutional investors from Scandinavia and East Asia joined the event for the first time, reflecting the increasing attractiveness of the Thai capital market. The event has gathered high-ranking officials and executives of the public and private sectors to concertedly provide updates on Thailand’s strong economic fundamentals, business situations, significant progress in the execution of the national strategies, including various infrastructure development projects initiated to accelerate further growth.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said that Thailand Focus 2018 has provided great opportunities for the public and private sectors to present the country’s key developments to global investors in addition to the achievements of the economic reform measures executed during the current administration. These have been reflected by the consistent GDP growth over the past three years. The government will continue to proactively develop the mega infrastructure projects, shift the economy structure towards value and innovation-based production, and transform the country into the digital economy. All is in line with the Thailand 4.0 policy. In addition, there has been recent progress in regional collaboration as member countries have put efforts to set up the ACMECS Master Plan for the first time ever while major economies have also shown their interests to connect with this high potential region. We envision the Thai capital market will continue to shine and become the capital market for the region, positioning Thailand as the regional hub for CLMVT and ASEAN.
SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai said that Thailand Focus 2018 under the theme “The Future is Now” has achieved a great success. The presence of 161 foreign institutional investors from Europe and America as well as first-time participants from Scandinavia and East Asia affirms Thailand’s position as an attractive investment destination. During this event, participating institutional investors, with USD 2.1 trillion of asset under management, joined 2,248 one-on-one meetings with 115 listed companies.
“Thailand Focus 2018” demonstrates strong fundamentals of Thai listed companies with consistent growth rates, return on investment and growth prospect. During the first half of 2018, their combined net profit grew by 7.61 percent year-on-year and their combined sales rose 9.01 percent year-on-year as a result of the business expansion in most industrial groups, especially those in the well-being businesses including Commerce, Tourism & Leisure and Transportation & Logistics. The performance of the listed firms was in line with the 4.8 percent growth of the Thai economy in the first half of 2018. Private investment continued to expand by 3.2 percent, a remarkable improvement from 0.9 percent growth registered during the same period last year. These have signaled the beginning of more active private investment that resonates solid public investment, domestic consumption and exports.
Institutional investors have directly received from the government all information related to the tangible progress in all infrastructure development projects showing the Thai capital market and the Thai economy towards solid growth. The growth will mainly be driven by the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), one of the country’s largest strategic projects. The government plans to invest over THB 1.7 trillion. The EEC will be the next key growth engine for Thailand’s economy being built on the success of the Eastern Seaboard and other large-scale projects in the past. The EEC is also expected to help promote connectivity within the region, specifically with the fast-growing CLMV countries where the opportunities for long-term returns on new investments await.
Thailand Focus has been a flagship annual conference for SET to showcase investment opportunities to current and prospective institutional investors from all over the world.