With budget delayed, PTT accelerates 30bn investment to boost GDP
To help stimulate the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), PTT is accelerating its investment budget for 2024 to the level of 30 billion baht from its five-year budget of more than 89 billion.
Auttapol Rerkpiboon, the Chief Executive Officer and President of PTT PCL said that the government has asked Thai state enterprises to accelerate their investment plans in order to stimulate the country’s economy while the government’s 2024 budget is awaiting implementation.
Therefore, the PTT Group, a state-owned oil and gas company has accelerated the implementation of its 2024 investment plan to drive the Thai economy, advancing what was already its original plan.
PTT has allocated a total investment budget of 89.203 billion baht for a 5-year period (2024 -2028), representing investments by PTT and its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Specifically, for this year, they have set a target investment budget of around 20-30 billion baht.
In the first quarter of this year, PTT has already made investments, including the Gas Transmission Pipeline Project Line 5, where only 2-3 kilometres of construction remain to be finished. They have also invested in the CPF refinery project of Thai Oil Public Co Ltd (a subsidiary of PTT) to expand its refining capacity from 275,000 barrels per day to 400,000 barrels per day. These investments contribute to injecting funds into the Thai economy.
Auttapol is confident that PTT will continue to invest according to their targets throughout this year.
“During the first three months of this year, the PTT group has been executing investments according to the budget targets outlined in clear plans, which are considered regular investment plans. These projects are significant, and I believe they will definitely stimulate the economy because the funds disbursed align with the progress of the operations,” Auttapol stated.
He also commented on global economic trends, along with those in Thailand this year, noting that the global economy is continuously expanding, while inflation remains subdued. The Thai economy is also growing positively but may face various challenges.
The five key factors to watch in the global context are the economic recovery of individual countries, monetary policies of countries especially after central banks worldwide are maintaining high-interest rates to contain inflation within target levels, crude oil production from oil-exporting countries (OPEC), the supply from non-OPEC countries, (non-OPEC) and geopolitical risks that need to be closely monitored.
Auttapol said PTT will invest over the next five years according to the planned allocation, with key business segments as follows: natural gas business: 30.636 billion baht, accounting for 34%; natural gas pipeline business: 14.934 billion baht, accounting for 17%; new businesses, infrastructure, and headquarters: 12.789 billion baht, accounting for 14%; international trade and downstream petrochemical business: 3.022 billion baht, accounting for 4%; and investments in 100% owned subsidiaries of PTT: 27.822 billion baht, accounting for 31%.
