The Nong Khai Chamber of Commerce is confident that the establishment of a new province will not affect Thai-Lao border trade and urges the government to stimulate the new province’s economy. Nong Khai Chamber of Commerce President Aranya Sujanil concurred with the Cabinet’s decision to upgrade Nong Khai’s Bung Kan district to Thailand’s 77th province since policing Nong Khai’s 330-kilometer border stretch along the Mekong River is a difficult task.

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New Northeastern Province Welcomed

Sectors linked to external demand (namely, manufacturing, hotels and transport) have been the main contributors to growth since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, and have also determined the dynamics of the economy in 2008-09. These sectors have accounted for almost all of the annual changes in real GDP.
However, the upside is limited due to political and regulatory uncertainty, including from possible political violence and the Map Ta Phut court case. The government investment plan is proceeding at a slow pace, but public investment should contribute to growth.

‘‘In part, the gains in the market are a function of wealth creation. Asian and Middle Eastern household wealth is growing faster than in the United States and Europe,’’. The broadening and deepening of the Asian capital markets has helped draw savings away from traditional asset classes such as bank deposits and mutual funds to equities.
There is a growing split in terms of family-run companies. There are those still dominated by the older generation, who are still conservative and don’t want to do much. And there are firms led by the younger generation, who are more active about transparency and investor relations.

In 1972 the Government took a further step in this direction by amending the “Announcement of the Executive Council No. 58 on the Control of Commercial Undertakings Affecting Public Safety and Welfare”. The changes extended Government control and regulation over the operations of finance and securities companies, which until then had operated fairly freely. Following these amendments, in May 1974, long-awaited legislation establishing “The Securities Exchange of Thailand” (SET) was enacted. This was followed by revisions to the Revenue Code at the end of the year, allowing the investment of savings in the capital market. By 1975 the basic legislative framework was in place and on April 30, 1975, “The Securities Exchange of Thailand” officially started trading. On January 1, 1991 its name was formally changed to “The Stock Exchange of Thailand” (SET).