Business leaders are urging Thai companies to have a presence in other
Asean countries, as the region will become a fast-growing economic zone.
Anon Sirisaengtaksin, the chief
executive of PTT Global Chemical, told a Bangkok seminar yesterday on the
opportunities of Thai businesses in Asean and Asia that Asean alone will be
able to grow continuously by 5% annually over the next four decades. If there
are no major hiccups, Asean would become the world's fifth-largest economy
after the US, China, Europe and India.
"Asean has the advantages of
a plentiful workforce, steady growth in the middle-income population and
urbanisation expanding consumption and demand," said Mr Anon, adding that
the sectors that will benefit most from the launch of the Asean Economic Community
(AEC) are construction, retail and finance.
Kobsak Pootrakool, an executive
vice-president of Bangkok Bank, said the AEC will resurrect the region after
decades of crisis and political problems.
Recent official visits by the
leaders of the US and China have highlighted the importance of the region,
while investors are being drawn to Asia and Asean due the problems in the
Western economies.
Mr Kobsak said Thailand is
stronger than all the other regional countries except Singapore and Malaysia,
and he urged businesses to expand in the region.
"We need to go out [to
invest] now," he said.
Mr Kobsak said the cost of
operating in Thailand is higher than in many countries in the region _ for
example, two times higher than in Indonesia, three times higher than in Vietnam
and 4-5 times higher than in Cambodia. Any investments in these countries would
lower the costs of Thai operators.
Manop Sangiambut, a senior
executive vice-president of Siam Commercial Bank, said the government of China,
the largest economy driving Asian growth, will make great efforts to cool its
economic growth.
He predicted it would be
successful, with hardly a chance of a "hard landing".
If China can manage its economy
at a controllable level, tension over the impact of slower growth will be
limited.
"China's growth should be
steady at 6-7% annually in the years ahead compared with the past decade when
it had growth of 9-10%," said Mr Manop.
However, he said the policies of
China's new leader should be monitored closely, as it is not certain he will
come up with aggressive stimulus packages like before.
Mr Manop forecast's Chinese
economic growth of 7.5% at most next year.
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