Through the first eight months of 2012, approvals for foreign business licenses under the Foreign Business Act (FBA) were up 25 percent compared to the first eight months of 2011, according to an article in The Nation.

A total of 218 approvals were granted over the period, with initial capital investments of Bt6.57 billion.

Service, financial and wholesaling are the most popular categories for licenses under the FBA, and mainland China, the British Virgin Islands, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Singapore and Hong Kong lead the list of countries with foreign investors seeking a license.