Thailand's revocation of curfew boosts business operators' confidence

BANGKOK, June 16 (TNA) - The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) says that confidence has been growing among business operators and investors, following the nationwide curfew revocation last Friday. FTI Chairman Suphan Mongkolsuthee told journalists on Monday that the curfew revocation has not only boosted confidence among business operators, but it has also facilitated businesses at night. Suphan pointed out that the curfew revocation also reflects that there is now no political violence in Thailand. Suphan acknowledged that Thai and foreign business operators and investors who have run their businesses in Thailand now have more confidence, while those overseas are expected to have confidence in Thailand again, but they are waiting for new economic stimulus and investment-related measures to be introduced by the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). According to the FTI chief, the FTI wants the NCPO to effectively stimulate the national economy, restore confidence and guarantee transparency and good governance. The FTI chief also projected that the Thai economy should grow by 2.5-3 per cent this year, but urging quick disbursements of government budgets. The FTI chief also predicted that the Thai tourism should pick up in the second half of this year. Besides, the FTI chair expected that the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) should consider a backlog of investment projects, totally worth about 700 billion baht, which have been proposed to seek approvals of its promotional privileges, within 3-4 months.(TNA)