Thai business executives eye to expand investment into CLMV

BANGKOK, September 12 (TNA) - Business executives in Thailand have expressed their interest in expanding their investment projects into neighboring countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), especially Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMV group, over the next 12 months. The SET Research, the research arm of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), reported on Wednesday that its recent survey on a sample group of chief executive officers (CEOs) of listed firms in the country found about 50 per cent of them planned to expand their companies' investment projects to provincial areas and other member countries in AEC, especially in the CLMV group. Most of the surveyed CEOs said they eyed to use their companies' accumulated profits, or corporate bonds or bank loans to finance their new investment expansion plans either in provincial areas or in the ASEAN neighboring nations. Most of the surveyed CEO also foresaw that the Thai economy should grow by 3-4 per cent year-on-year on average in 2018, boosted by the government's spending on public projects and fiscal policy, as well as more stable domestic politics, national tourism and sound purchasing power of people. However, most of the surveyed CEOs anticipated an increase in the costs of their raw materials and other production costs in the second half of this year in line with the rising world oil prices, while their employment and liquidity should remain unchanged until the end of this year. (TNA)