Business Continues

BUSINESS CONTINUES DURING COVID 19

INFORMATION ABOUT GOVERNMENT MEASURES IN SUPPORT OF ON-GOING BUSINESS AND THE THAI ECONOMY

As a service to members, EABC provides information about government support. EABC also provides members’ recommendations on changes to these support and relief measures, in order that they may best meet objectives. Please do be in touch with us at [email protected] with any concerns about coverage, or recommendations you may have.

The Thai Cabinet approved many relief measures for Thai companies and individuals and provided various other regulatory and administrative changes to support the economy during COVID-19 crisis, starting on 10 March 2020. There have been many other measures and changes, usually announced by CCSA, cabinet and various Ministries.

On March 25, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a State of Emergency, effective March 26 2020, in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Thailand. An Emergency Decree made in 2005 was relied on to call this State of Emergency. This gives the Prime Minister’s Office various powers including powers to exercise authorities under various laws, which are currently held by senior officers in various agencies. The State of Emergency has been extended to 30 September 2021.

Please do be in touch with us at [email protected] with any concerns about coverage, or recommendations you may have.

2021

Government support and control measures for 2021 follows much of 2020, with the exception of needing to deal with the delta variant and learning from success or otherwise of programmes.

• Support measures by way of soft loans for SMEs with new rules.
• Limited deferral for holding AGMs and filing of organisation returns with Business Development Department and the Revenue Department,  but not with the same scope as for 2020.
• Little in the way of making it easier to extend visas or work permits, apart from some on-line capability.  Surprisingly , in-person attendance and thus queues is still the norm.
• 90 day reporting continues to be problematic.
• Lockdowns, curfews and restrictions on inter-provincial travel change frequently.
• Phuket Sandbox was launched 1 July, with quite successful operation, but several gaps for situations where things go wrong. The model is being used in other places.
• The Prime Minister’s 120 day statement is targeted to open the country by mid October.  The statement moved away from a ‘zero’ mindset and indicated a risk-based approach to learning to live with the virus.
• There are more App for tracking foreigners but no clear overall strategy for such Apps.

Group hygiene –mask wearing, social distancing, washing hands – continues to be.

2020

The support details and other information for 2020 are shown in this downloadable file.

There were many relaxations for filing, and deferrals of deadlines support via soft loans for SMEs and direct payments to individuals. Missing was and is support measure to keep businesses going by direct coverage of wages for example. Continuity of small businesses in particular, supporting their restructuring and temporary downsizing by way of reduced hours was not well supported; it was left to companies to work out in that respect how to cope.   The first comprehensive list of groups of allowed arrivals was done 30 June 2020, and has been updated several times.

Some of these measures continue.