According to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, the year 2016 will be a year of investment as the government aims to accelerate the progress of various operations under the Ministry of Finance in order to facilitate the advancement of investment projects.

The Deputy PM held a meeting to follow up on the progress of various projects under the Ministry of Finance with an emphasis on tax reform and investment policies. The Finance Ministry has already amended the application process for public private partnership (PPP) projects, shortening the application time-frame from 25 months to 9 months. The move will allow six major investment projects to commence in first half of the year.

As for tax policies, the government will support investment in industries of high-potential by providing tax incentives for targeted industries such as a 10-15 percent income tax exemption and a tax exemption for professionals who work in the targeted industries.

For private investors conducting expansion before December 31, 2016, the government will double tax deductions on procurement of items such as machines, equipment, computer programs, vehicles and facilities.

Other policies, triple tax deductions apply on research conducted between the years 2015 and 2019 and the establishment of a 100 billion Baht “Thailand Future Fund” to support large scale investment projects has been announced.

Stimulus measures for the first three months of 2016 include the approval of a 36.275 billion Baht fund to provide 5 million Baht to every district in the country. The government aims to conclude disbursements for the project by March 31 in order to move forward with more long-term stimulus policies such as infrastructure and disbursement reform.