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The Government Housing Bank has removed the automobile and electronics sectors from its list of high-risk industries, says executive vice-president Jamaree Savetachinda.

The two sectors were taken off the list in October as purchase orders started reviving, she said.

“Sales of automobiles picked up early in the fourth quarter and the number of orders for some electronic parts had increased,” said Ms Jamaree.

The property agency Colliers International Thailand reported an increase in inquiries and transactions in the industrial sector in the fourth quarter.

Improved economic indicators, such as rising gross domestic product, increasing order and production rates, and lower unemployment, led many analysts to believe a recovery was under way for the industrial sector, said the firm.

GH Bank has kept nine sectors on its list of high-risk industries, including tourism businesses, export-related firms, traditional retailers and media. Jewellery is the highest-risk sector as it is a luxury product, Ms Jamaree said.

Tourism-related businesses have been struggling since the 2004 tsunami. “It will likely take more than a year for tourism and hotel businesses to recover,” she said.

“Just after the financial crisis took hold [in late 2008], banking and financial sectors were among the riskiest groups, but now the situation has eased.”

GH Bank has been working to help customers whose businesses were hit hard by the global crisis, including extending loan payments, reducing interest rates and offering additional loans.

“We also deal with the human resources departments of companies in Rayong that have seen an impact from the Map Ta Phut dispute. Rescheduling loan payments is the most successful way of helping them,” she said.

Colliers reported the current situation at Map Ta Phut, Thailand’s largest industrial estate, continued to cast a long shadow, especially over foreign investment in the oil and gas sector.

It was only partially resolved when the Supreme Administrative Court in November reduced the number of industrial projects suspended by the Administrative Court in September to 65. and later to 64, from 76.

The other projects remain suspended pending environmental and health impact assessments.

The 76 ventures are worth a combined 400 billion baht. Their delays could cut up to half a percentage point of this year’s economic growth, according to the Bank of Thailand.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post