Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra revealed today, Sunday, that foreign investments in her country reached 1.13 trillion Thai baht (approximately 32 billion dollars) last year, marking the highest level in a decade despite the economic slowdown.

During her weekly program *"Empowering Thais"* on the official television channel, Shinawatra stated that the slowdown in GDP growth is due to weak investment in new industries and the lack of preparation of the workforce for future sectors over the past ten years. She explained that the Thai economy grew by only 2.5% in 2024, while neighboring countries like Malaysia heavily invested in the semiconductor industry, and Vietnam trained its citizens in programming and future technologies.

She pointed out that Thailand has not paid sufficient attention to these areas, highlighting the need to develop and retrain the workforce to keep pace with economic transformations. Shinawatra called on the private sector to collaborate with the government to strengthen the national economy, emphasizing the importance of commercial banks supporting small and medium-sized enterprises with loans to enable their expansion and increased investment.

She noted that budget constraints posed another challenge to economic growth, as most government spending was allocated to fixed expenses. Her government is working to control these expenses and redirect surplus funds toward investment, alongside attracting new foreign investments.

Shinawatra added that this year will see major investments from global companies such as Google, TikTok, and NVIDIA, which are expected to stimulate the country's economic growth. She affirmed her government's commitment to completing its first term to ensure sustainable investments, stating that accelerated GDP growth remains possible with the adoption of appropriate economic policies.