Incentives offered to investors in Thailand's special economic zones

BANGKOK, May 29 (TNA) - Business operators investing in Thailand's new special border economic zones will receive a 50 per cent-tax cut and other incentives. Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, who oversees economic affairs, told journalists of the information on Friday, elaborating that the special benefits include not only a tax cut by half, but also an exemption of tax payment during the first 5-8 years if busness operators ask for promotional privileges from the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), under the Ministry of Industry, depending on the types of their businesses. The deputy prime minister acknowledged that there has been considerable progress on the interim government's plan on setting up six special economic zones in five border Thai provinces. The deputy prime minister assessed that special border economic zones should be first launched in Mae Sot District of Tak Province in the Thai North, bordering Myanmar, and in Aranyaprathet District of Sa Kaeo Province in the Thai East, bordering Cambodia, as the two areas have been well prepared by locals and the two neighbouring countries have also set up industrial estates near the Thai economic zones. (TNA)