DEPUTY PRIME Minister/Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said he is going to propose that 10-year tourist visa be issued to enable foreigners to easily work in Thailand alongside 99-year lease of government land as part of measures to spur the economy, Naewna newspaper said late afternoon today (May 18).
In a speech on “Thailand’s Capital Market Forum 2025” given today Pichai said a meeting of the economic stimulus policy committee, to be chaired by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, tomorrow will clearly decide which agencies will be responsible for spurring the economy and how much is to be spent because this action has to be taken in many areas.
The focus is on preparing short-term measures to deal with global economic problems stemming from US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures. Pichai said he is going to propose that in negotiating with the US the points be increased to seven from the current five because these talks are multi-faceted and many countries have made progress.
As tourism is a key sector in stimulating the economy, allowing a 10-year tourist visa would encourage foreigners to work from Thailand while also boosting tourism in terms of lifestyle, culture, eating and living. This is a hot tourism trend at the moment.
Additionally, allowing foreigners to lease land long term through “land use rights” of government property for a period of 99 years would also help. These leases could be used as collateral for financial transactions.
Various other developments are planned including economic restructuring for the digital age, pushing Thailand to become a data centre, stepping up electric vehicle (EV) industry, expanding dual-track railways, turning Thailand into the region’s logistic centre, moving forward with land bridge development and creating water channels to boost agriculture production among others.
Pichai mentioned that the Thai stock market (SET Index) has dropped over the past two years from 1,700 to 1,200 points at present. The market “has begun to stabilise” at this level if there are no more crises leading to withdrawal in the second half of this year.
The government does not see any need to issue new measures to stimulate the capital market further because the original measures are still working.
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Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira. Photos: Amarin TV
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