The speculation on whether or not the LTF scheme would be extended had some traders nervous, now the latest news is that the Finance Ministry would extend it for another 10 years. I do like the LTF scheme as it has helped with liquidity in the market and does force people to save $ for once, but on the flipside, asset houses have become lazy because of the guaranteed income they’ll receive in new funds. Here are the key points with a link to the full article below:

• LTF’s were originally going to finish in 2016
• The holding period may extend from 5 to 10 years
• LTF investment is fairly popular among taxpayers, with asset size rising by almost 30 times from 2004 to more than 200 billion baht today
• Institutional investors’ turnover ratio on the Thai bourse has risen to 9-10% from 5-6% when LTFs were launched
• Mr Kritsada said two options were being weighed — cutting the ceiling tax deduction of 500,000 baht for LTF investment or cutting the overall deduction to 800,000 baht a year

Source: Bangkok Post