KBank, JBIC help finance Thai, Japanese expansion
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Kasikornbank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) are offering special loans to assist Thai-Japanese businesses with investment expansion ahead of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), totaling Bt1.7 billion, carrying interest of 5 to 6 perce
KBank, JBIC and 11 Japanese partner banks had earlier offered special low-interest loans to Thai and Japanese businesses in Thailand that were hit by the 2011 flooding.
KBank Executive Vice President Songpol Chevapanyaroj said this new scheme will cover Japanese business operators in Thailand whose parent firms in Japan have registered capital of no more than 1 billion yen. The programme also covers Thai business operators that have business relationships with Japan, or Japanese trade partners in Thailand which were impacted by the 2011 floods, had never participated in the programme before, and planned to expand their ASEAN operations ahead of the AEC inception in 2015 . Maximum loan is capped at Bt330 million each or 1 billion yen.
The below-industry-average interest rate will allow participating businesses to operate with lower funding costs in compensation for the recent minimum wage hike and impact from recent baht appreciation, he said.
