Bangkok  - Thailand is expecting about 20 billion dollars in new private foreign direct investment proposals this year, similar to last year's stellar performance, despite the September 2006 coup and ongoing political uncertainties, the investment board head said Monday.

"Whether you want to invest in Thailand or not depends on business factors," said Satit Chanjavanakul, secretary general of the Board of Investment (BOI). "Politics does not have any direct impact."

Thailand experienced a military coup in September, 2006, and throughout 2007 was under an appointed interim government.

Despite the political instability, the BOI in 2007 attracted 20 billion dollars worth of new applications, up 33 per cent from 2006 figures.

"We think the figure for this year should be about the same as last year, about 20 billion dollars," Satit told a conference at which he explained the BOI promotion campaign for 2008.

The BOI, which is mandated to grant tax incentives to foreign and Thai private investments in promoted sectors, is seeking new investments in the automotive sector, electronics, agro-industry, alternative energy and service industries.

Some of these industries are not only immune to local politics, but also the appreciation of the baht against the US dollar, said Satit. The baht has risen about 26 per cent against the dollar over the past two years.

"Many companies, especially in electronics, are selling and buying in US dollar, so they are paying less for imports than they are losing on exports," said Satit.

Thailand is the world's leading exporter of hard disk drives (HDD), used in computers, having attracted several leading multinationals to the kingdom such as Seagate.

The country's 17-per-cent increase in exports last year was led by exports of electronics and electrical appliances, which accounted for almost one-third of total exports. (dpa)