On April 11, 2020, the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) issued Guidelines for the Domestic Transportation of Goods, and Entering and Exiting the Lao PDR, during the Protection, Control, and Eradication Period for COVID-19 No. 266/MPWT.

To ease the formalities of setting up business operations in Thailand, the Department of Business Development (DBD) of the Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with the Revenue Department (RD), has announced that, from April 20, 2020 onward, new partnerships and companies may submit a VAT registration application simultaneously with an application to register their incorporation. Both registrations will be effective on the same day, which means that the new company or partnership will become a VAT registrant upon its incorporation.

Faced with the specter of corporate liquidity problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thai government and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have announced an array of measures to assist small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures range from preemptive financial support, to debt moratoria, to the granting of low interest financial assistance.Below is a chronological summary of the measures as at April 7:

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has issued BOT Announcement No. Wor 277/2563, dated February 28, 2020, to provide relief measures for small and medium-sized debtors who suffer adverse economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. The key points of this announcement are summarized below.Revised Definition of Debt RestructuringUnder this announcement, “debt restructuring” means restructuring of debt arising from a debtor’s increased credit risks, which can be divided into two categories: