New foreign business investment rises 58% in first 5 months
Foreign firms pump 71.7 billion baht into Thai economy but job creation falls
Investment by new foreign businesses rose 58% in the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year, the Department of Business Development announced on Tuesday.
Newly registered foreign firms rose 16% to 317 and invested a combined 71.702 billion baht in Thailand from January to May 2024.
They hired 1,212 Thai employees, a fall of 60% from the 2,999 Thais hired by new foreign firms during the same period of last year.
The number of Thais employed fell because most of the new firms invested in advanced technology that requires low manpower, said department director-general Oramon Supthaweetham. The investments included data development and digital platforms, she said.
She added that the foreign investment had boosted technology transfer in areas such as financial management, digital marketing, and hybrid cloud and multi-cloud management.
Japan remained the top foreign investor in the first five months, with 40.214 billion baht of investment from 84 newly arrived firms.
China was second with 5.485 billion baht invested by 38 new firms, while the US was third with 1.196 billion baht and 50 firms.
