New businesses registered at the Commerce Ministry rose by 20% year-on-year in August, the highest rate in four years, driven by massive government investment in infrastructure, hefty exports and the growing tourism industry, says the ministry's Business Development Department.
With rising new business registrations in August, Banjongjit Angsusingh, director-general of the department, said new business registrations for the whole of 2017 would increase by 7%, up from the previous forecast of 5%.
She said new business registrations in August totalled 7,159 companies with combined registered capital of 47.35 billion, up 145% from the same period last year.
The top five business segments registered in August were construction, property, restaurants, logistics and management consultancy.
Ms Banjongjit said the main reasons new business registrations rose were the government's massive investment in infrastructure, creating more construction jobs, which spurred the increase of small subcontracting companies.
She said the state investment in infrastructure, particularly in the rail system, led to more construction activities in related businesses such as property development as new condominium projects go up alongside rail mass transit.
Strong growth in the tourism sector also propelled new restaurant openings and pushed demand for logistics business, Ms Banjongjit said.
For the first eight months this year, new business registrations totalled 49,080, up 14% year-on-year, with combined registered capital of 232.89 billion baht, an increase of 44% from the previous year.
Ms Banjongjit said the jump in new business registrations and a substantial rise in new registered capital was largely driven by investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), particularly in the high-speed train project that will link the EEC to other parts of the country.
"With the improved economic outlook, we forecast new business registrations for the whole year to rise by 7% to more than 66,000 new companies," she said. "That is an increase from only 3% growth last year."
With rising new business registrations, she voiced confidence that Thailand would receive a better ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business survey due in October, adding that the government has put much effort into streamlining business procedures, including short cuts for the registration process and simplifying legal processes.
Thailand ranked 46th in the World Bank's 2016 Ease of Doing Business survey.
