SME venture capital fund mooted

Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said last week that lending support from the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank might not be sufficient to strengthen SMEs, which may need joint investment to lower their debt-to-equity ratio. 

About 10 per cent of the fund, which would be listed on the stock exchange, would be kept by the ministry and the rest opened to participation by businesses. 

Like the Government Pension Fund, the venture capital fund would be managed by a professional team. 

More details would be finalised by the end of the year.

Venture capital would benefit small businesses, which have little collateral and cannot borrow from financial institutions. 

The fund would be designed as a joint investment with SMEs that have returns at a medium level.

The country has been stagnating due to the political crisis from last year to the middle of this year. However, after the military seized power on May 22, this government launched economic stimulus initiatives, including budget acceleration and a subsidy for farmers, and this could help the economy in the last quarter of the year. 

From the second quarter to the third quarter, the consumer confi?dence index rose to 69.3 from 61.2, while the year-on-year increase in value added tax collections, reflecting domestic spending, surged to 2.3 per cent from 0.3 per cent. 

If the government’s new projects go ahead, it will provide more of a fillip to economic growth and private investment will follow, he added.