The Southern region of Thailand is a narrow peninsula bordering Myanmar on the east and stretching as far south as Malaysia. It is famous for its spectacular coastline and beaches found along the Gulf of Thailand as well as the Andaman Sea. Southern terrain is characterized as hilly to mountainous, containing dense virgin forests and rich deposits of minerals and ores.

Agriculture is the dominant sector of the regional economy, with rubber being the most important of the abundant tropical crops grown in the south. Agro-based industries are well developed in the south, with production and processing facilities for rice, palm oil, vegetable oil and coffee. The long coastlines of the south provide ample supplies of marine life sustaining the regional fisheries industry, which has developed into a key export earner. The mining industry is also a significant economic contributor, with tin being the largest regional deposit. Other important mineral deposits include gypsum, tungsten, lignite, fluorite, manganese and antimony.

Finance Market

The South has a diverse number of financial institutions including commercial banks, finance companies, agricultural cooperatives, and savings cooperatives. Commercial banks are the most influential institutions in local finance and have rapidly developed in terms of number of branches, deposits and credits, presently operating 418 branches in the region.

Deposits and credits expanded steadily throughout the early 1990’s by an average of 20 percent per year. However, in 1998, credits declined by 11 percent because of the problems that Thailand’s commercial banks have been experiencing. Deposits increased by 6.6 percent in 1998 over the previous year.

Border Trade

The south of Thailand is geographically adjacent to Malaysia and Myanmar, and linked to Singapore by shipping routes. Of these countries, Malaysia is southern Thailand’s largest trading partner. The principal export products are rubber, tin, seafood and natural gas.

Investment

Industrial estate projects in the Southern region include the Songkhla Province Project, a joint project between the IEAT and the private sector along with the Chalung Mine Industrial Estate Project in Songkhla Province. The Phuket Province Project was founded to support and enhance the utilization of the Phuket Deep Sea Port.

Investment in the region has been increasing due to incentives offered by the BOI encouraging decentralization of industry and production. The south of Thailand receives more investment than the North or Northeast because it benefits from diverse resources, combined with developed infrastructure including sea access for shipping. The investments have aided in developing significant agro-industry in the region focusing on the export of rubber and frozen seafood.

Tourism

The south of Thailand benefits from the hordes of tourists who come to enjoy its charms. The peninsula is nestled between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand giving the region many tranquil beaches and lush tropical islands. Inland attractions include mountain scenery, caves, waterfalls and tropical jungles. Local products of interest include ornaments made from sea- shells, coral, and pearl oysters along with hand-woven cloth.

The main destinations for tourists visiting the region are Phuket, Samui, Krabi and the islands in Phang-nga Bay. In 1998, Thai tourist arrivals were up by five percent while foreigner tourist arrivals increased by 12 percent.

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