Thailand’s National Single Window to Be Linked with ASEAN

(21/09/2012)

The establishment of Thailand’s National Single Window will be fully completed in late 2013, and it will be linked with other ASEAN countries by 2014. The Ministry of Finance cited the establishment of the National Single Window as one of its achievements during the past one year. Thailand and its ASEAN partners signed an agreement to establish and implement the ASEAN Single Window in December 2005. The ASEAN Single Window is an electronic system that would facilitate international trade and investment through expeditious clearance and release of cargo by the Customs Department. This would reduce costs and enhance Thailand's competitiveness. It also constitutes one of the mechanisms to realize the ASEAN Economic Community, scheduled for 2015. The Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong, stated that, during the past year, the Ministry of Finance has focused on four major policies in order to cope with economic challenges and impacts from natural disasters. In the first policy, the Ministry implemented financial measures to ease the flood problem and supported long-term investment, worth 350 billion baht, in water management and the future development of Thailand. In the second policy, it launched several projects to reduce costs for people who suffered from higher inflation. The projects were debt suspension for small farmers and low-income earners, the reduction of excise tax on diesel, and the issuance of energy credit cards to offset the rising price of natural gas for vehicles. In implementing the third policy to increase the people’s purchasing power, the Ministry of Finance introduced the 300-baht daily minimum wage and implemented the project on a starting salary of 15,000 baht for new graduates. It also launched a rice pledging program to help farmers. In the fourth policy, the Ministry aims to enhance the potential of entrepreneurs and the general public. Toward this aim, it has reduced corporate income tax rates from 30 percent to 23 percent in 2012 and to 20 percent to 2013. The tax reduction will promote the competitiveness of the Thai private sector in preparation for the ASEAN Community. The Ministry of Finance has also implemented guidelines to refund taxes for first-car buyers and first-home buyers. Moreover, it has also set up a fund for new graduates who want to start their own businesses. Mr. Kittiratt said that the implementation of these four policies had contributed to Thailand’s economic growth and led to the gradual reduction of inflation. During the past year, he said, the Government was able to maintain fiscal discipline, with public debt lower than 60 percent of GDP.