Thailand viewed as one of top five investment destinations

BANGKOK, February 24 (TNA) - Surveyed chief executive officers (CEOs) in the ASEAN Community (AC) have considered Thailand as being among top five investment destinations. Sira Intarakumthornchai, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Thailand, told journalists on Wednesday that the finding was the result of the 19th Global CEO Survey, reported at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland, last month, in which 61 CEOs from seven Southeast Asian countries were among 1,490 surveyed CEOs from 83 countries worldwide. Sira said the surveyed CEOs favored Thailand as a major investment destination for skilled labor, government spending and location as an ASEAN hub, making the Thai Kingdom become comparative advantages in the telecommunication, transport and tourism sectors. However, Sira suggested that Thailand address its comparative disadvantages, including those in some areas of the production sector, as well as in higher wages, educational quality, the concentration of industries which has caused income inequality, debts of rural and poor people and the migration of workers. Based on the survey, Sira revealed, the most favorable destination for investment was China for its status as a potential market, followed by the United States for its recovering employment and purchasing power, Indonesia and Vietnam for their business and investment expansion, low wages and plentiful natural resources and India. According to the PWC CEO, the survey also found that only 39 per cent of the global CEOs anticipated the world economy should improve this year, the percentage of which was the lowest in three years and a fall from 49 per cent last year, as they viewed fluctuating exchange rates, social insecurity and political turmoil as risk factors. (TNA)