TRIS identifies Thai businesses most at risk and successful

BANGKOK, February 29 (TNA) - TRIS Rating Co., Ltd., Thailand's first and established rating firm, has identified the country's most at risk and successful businesses in the wake of a massive flooding late last year. Somchai Ruechupan, chairman of the TRIS Rating board, announced that the Thai business sectors identified as the most at risk are those having been affected by the flooding crisis late last year, including real estates, industrial estates and financial institutes. Somchai cautioned that Thailand's transportation and agricultural exporting sectors could also be affected by the global economic slowdown, caused mainly by impacts from the ongoing debt crisis in Europe. According to TRIS Rating, Thailand’s most successful sectors are those associated with post-flood rehabilitation, including construction, retail, infrastructure and energy. The TRIS board chair assessed when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is formed by 2015, a dozen of Thai industries, including tourism, automobile, textiles and healthcare, would face stiff competition, as the single economic community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would result in free flows of capital, labour and trade. The TRIS board chair, therefore, suggested that the Thai public and the private sectors adapt their strategies in order to benefit from the AEC, urging as well that the Thai government assist those heavily affected by the AEC in the initial stage. (TNA)