Debt relief for farmers, small borrowers
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A three-year moratorium on principal and interest payments will be offered to farmers and small borrowers staggering under heavy debt burden, as promised during the election campaign.
Deputy Finance Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said yesterday that at least 800,000 debtors are expected to join the scheme, which is one of the government’s populist policies.
The Cabinet yesterday approved the Finance Ministry’s proposal to allow farmers and low-income earners with debts of not more than Bt500,000 to suspend payment instalments for three years.
The scheme has been designed to support the customers of six specialised financial institutions run by the state.
Eligible for the moratorium are farmers who borrowed from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to finance their farming activities or build homes or for other purposes.
It also covers those in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat who suffered from the political violence and borrowed from the BAAC.
Those with non-performing loans or restructured loans from the Government Savings Bank, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, Government Housing Bank, Islamic Bank of Thailand and Secondary Mortgage Corporation can also apply.
However, they must have filed personal income tax returns with the Revenue Department.
The principal must not be more than Bt500,000.
As of June, 775,090 accounts were expected to be covered by the scheme, or 12.48 per cent of the loan accounts of the six state banks. Their combined debts are Bt90.51 billion, or 5.76 per cent of the outstanding loans of these banks.
Borrowers can apply for the suspension of principal and interest payments from November 15-February 14.
Those who are approved are not allowed to take out new loans from these state banks, but they can exit from the scheme ahead of the three years.
The Finance Ministry and state banks will also provide career training to borrowers, he added.
