On January 20th, the Thai Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced the status of foreign investment regulatory approvals in December 2022. A total of 53 business approvals were granted, consisting of 20 Foreign Business Licenses (FBL) and 33 Foreign Business Certificates (FBC), with a total investment of approximately THB 16.38 billion (approximately JPY 65.2 billion, 1 THB = JPY 4.0). The majority of the investments came from Japan, Singapore, and China, contributing to 245 new jobs.
For the whole year of 2022, the total number of business approvals increased by 2.3% compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 583 approvals. This includes 218 FBLs and 365 FBCs, with a total investment of THB 128.74 billion, an increase of 56.1% compared to the previous year, contributing to 5,253 new jobs. Looking at the country-wise breakdown, Japan had 151 approvals with a total investment of THB 39.51 billion (30.7% of the total), China had 31 approvals with a total investment of THB 23.36 billion, and Hong Kong had 40 approvals with a total investment of THB 18.18 billion. The main industries approved were infrastructure development projects, which are targeted industries under the government's investment incentives policy.
Specifically, the approved projects included the design, construction, and installation of energy storage systems for U-tapao airport's combined power generation facility, oil drilling in the Gulf of Thailand, landfill construction for the expansion of the Map Ta Phut port, charging stations for electric vehicles, consulting and engineering services for the manufacturing of automotive parts, an international logistics center equipped with the latest systems, and software development for data analysis.
Out of the 2022 approved projects, 119 were investments in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), accounting for 41.1% of the total approved investment amount, which was THB 5.287 billion. By country, Japan had 47 approvals with a total investment of THB 24.73 billion, China had 11 approvals with a total investment of THB 11.44 billion, and Singapore had 11 approvals with a total investment of THB 5.05 billion.
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