Thailand

Despite the May 2014 coup and installation of an interim military-led government, Thailand continues to maintain an open market-oriented economy and encourages foreign direct investment as a means of promoting economic development, employment, and technology transfer. In recent decades, Thailand has been a major destination for foreign direct investment, and hundreds of U. S. companies have successfully invested in Thailand. Thailand continues to welcome investment from all countries and seeks to avoid dependence on any one country as a source of investment. Economic impacts to tourism and retail businesses resulting from months of political impasse leading up to the May 2014 coup eroded growth for the year, but public and private sector analysts forecast 2015 growth to be between 3-4%. Investors remain cautiously confident that the Thai economy will retain its well-known resiliency and resume growth; however, many companies are also carefully considering market factors, including the country's declining competitiveness, when making future investment decisions.