The Thai Retailers Association (TRA) expects the country’s retail industry next year to show flat or negative growth, down from an estimated 4 per cent expansion this year, if the draft Retail and Wholesale Business Act becomes law.
Thanapon Tangkananan, the association’s president, said lack of clarity in some articles in the draft had led some major retailers to delay expansion plans, media reports said.
“With no new outlet expansion, it will also affect manufacturers who would have fewer orders,” Thanapon said.
Normally, retailers would grow because of increasing sales from existing stores and the new stores. Retail business growth is usually about double the rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
Kobchai Chirathivat, the president of Central Pattana Plc, the SET-listed property development arm of the Central Group of Companies, said that if the new Retail and Wholesale Business Act were enforced, it would affect retailing and related sectors like construction, property and manufacturing. The damage could hit 100 billion baht, he said.
“Whatever the benefit to consumers, the government shouldn’t block retail expansion, particularly local brands that have developed from small entrepreneurs to large well-known chains,” Kobchai said.
Thanapon said the association had tried to provide information about the retail business to the bureaucrats and legislators involved in drafting the Retail and Wholesale Business Act. However, he said, he was disappointed with the lack of response to the information provided.
