Kittiratt eyes tax rebate for flood-hit entrepreneurs

BANGKOK, 14 June 2012 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Kittiratt Na-Ranong is preparing to discuss with the Revenue Department about a tax rebate for entrepreneurs in the flood-hit industrial estates following their request.

Mr. Kittiratt delivered a speech during a seminar on investment after the flood crisis on Thursday in Ayutthaya province. He said the government was urgently spending its flood prevention budget of 350 billion baht to prevent industrial zones from flooding again this year.

The deputy premier and the Revenue Department are also planning to work together on a corporate income tax rebate scheme for operators of flood-damaged factories located within industrial estates after they requested the assistance.

As for the construction of flood barriers around six industrial estates, Mr. Kittiratt said there had been a lot of progress and some of the barriers were more than halfway to completion. All barriers are expected to be completed in August.

In 1-2 weeks, the deputy PM said the government would pay one-third of the construction cost of the flood barriers to operators of the six industrial estates. Regarding loans for the construction, he said the Ministry of Finance was ready to ask the Cabinet to extend the repayment period from the current 7 years to 15 years after key financial figures of the construction were settled.

(NNT : suwit)

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