Pakorn Peetathawatchai

The president of the Thai stock market warned on Friday that the Stock Exchange of Thailand's trading volume will be affected if the government imposes a transaction tax on securities trades. Pakorn Peetathawatchai stated that charging such a tax will increase the cost of investing, particularly for high-frequency traders, and hence will definitely have an adverse effect on the market's trading volume. The SET currently has a daily turnover of over THB90 billion, maintaining its position as Southeast Asia's largest stock exchange. Therefore, he suggested the Ministry of Finance and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) carefully consider transaction tax collection in order to mitigate the potential impact on investors. Alternatively, taxation might be dependent on trading volume, allowing the Thai market to compete with other regional exchanges. "It is the government's policy to collect such tax, which has been waived for a long period of time, it has to use tax money to stimulate the economy," Pakorn said. "We will have to wait and see what adjustments are necessary," he added.