U.S. was 2nd-largest foreign investor in Thailand in 2021

Americans continue to see opportunities in Thailand as the U.S. was the second-largest source of foreign investment in the Kingdom in 2021, with over 15 percent of foreign investment originating from America.

Total foreign investment in Thailand was $2.48 billion in 2021, a year in which trade, commerce, investment and other economic activities slowed because of global coronavirus pandemic.  Nonetheless, foreign funds continued to move into the Kingdom, and Thai economists and government officials are expecting an even better result this year as more countries recover.

Japan finished atop the foreign direct investment leaderboard with 28.6 percent of all new ventures. The U.S. took a 15.4 percent slice of the pie, with Thailand’s close neighbor Singapore following close behind in third place with 15.1 percent.

The Netherlands, France, China, South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom are among the top ten.

Thailand attracted 570 new foreign direct investments last year, with most of them in S-Curve industries, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Thailand is banking on    S-Curve industries – industries driven by higher technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence – to propel the Kingdom to a more advanced and sustainable level of development.

A Commerce Ministry official said that the government expects the trend of foreign firms investing in joint ventures with Thai companies would continue. Doing so makes foreign investors eligible to receive even greater incentives from the Board of Investment (BOI).

The joint ventures should aid the ongoing recovery of the domestic economy, the official added.