Thailand’s top investor now Japan, surpassing China

BANGKOK — Foreign direct investment in Thailand plunged last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, data released Thursday shows, but spending from Japan increased, allowing it to top China as the leading investor in the Southeast Asian country.

Foreign companies applied to make roughly 213.1 billion baht ($7.14 billion) in direct investments, a 54% drop, Thailand’s Board of Investment reported. The number of applications dipped 3% to 907 filings.

Yet applications from Japanese companies rose 10% by value to about 75.9 billion baht. Japan became the leading investor once again, accounting for 36% of the total.

In one of the biggest projects, Mitsubishi Motors is spending 18 billion yen ($172 million) to install equipment for manufacturing electrified vehicles at a plant in eastern Thailand. The application was approved in April.

China fell to second place with applications totaling…