More remedial measures in pipeline, says finance minister
Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana said more Covid-19 remedial measures for farmers will be proposed to the Cabinet next week and implemented by May. The announcement came after Uttama met with executives of state banks.
"The Agriculture Ministry will specify how much budget is needed to help farmers, since it has all the relevant information," he said on Thursday (April 23).
He estimated that up to Bt600 billion was needed to relieve people’s hardship during the virus crisis. He said a further Bt400 billion could be be used to revitalise the economy. The Finance Ministry is providing assistance to independent entrepreneurs, people under the social security system, and those in agriculture, but if there are other groups that need aid, the ministry was ready to help, said Uttama.
The Government Savings Bank (GSB) reported it has already released Bt150 billion in soft loans, while the Bank of Thailand (BOT) will begin extending its soft loans on May 8.
The GSB and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) are each extending Bt20 billion in Bt10,000 emergency loans, beginning May 7.
Meanwhile the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG) reported that credit guarantees for the PGS8 programme to support SMEs had reached Bt76 billion. A proposal for a PGS9 guarantee programme is currently being considered in conjunction with the Fiscal Policy Office.
GSB president Chatchai Payuhanaveechai said on Thursday (April 23) that its Bt150 billion in soft loans have been extended to commercial banks (Bt55 billion), non-banking entities (Bt80 billion) tourism companies (Bt10 billion). “Although the limit has been reached, we are ready to help if we get more loan requests,” he said.
