BANGKOK: Thailand's investment agency said yesterday it had approved applications for 18 projects worth 89.7 billion baht (RM8.99 billion), many of them involving the automobile sector and renewable energy.

The meeting, chaired by junta leader Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, brought the total approved projects to 458.6 billion baht since the May 22 military coup.

The projects included investment from Ford Motor to spend about 18.2 billion baht on fuel-efficient cars, or eco-cars, and from General Motors to invest 13.1 billion baht, the board said in a statement.

Nissan Motor will invest 6.9 billion baht, Mitsubishi Motors 12.6 billion baht and Toyota Motor Corp 1.9 billion baht, bringing a combined amount of 52.7 billion baht of automotive investments.

"The manufacturers will slightly increase their production. In the first one to two years the production may not be much, but from third year onwards the production will gradually increase," said Udom Wongviwatchai, the Board of Investment's secretary-general.

The Thai government is pressing ahead with phase two of a green car programme that offers tax breaks to manufacturers of environmentally-friendly and compact vehicles.

The junta on Wednesday announced a plan to spend 364 billion baht in a bid to revive the economy and help it return to its "normal growth" of four to five per cent next year.

It had promised to accelerate remaining project approvals of around 700 billion baht by the end of the year to create jobs.

Yesterday's announcement leaves only around 250 billion baht left to be approved. Reuters