Bt40 bn to spice up village fund scheme
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The Finance Ministry is injecting Bt40 billion into the village fund scheme.
Finance Minister Sommai Phasee said today that the extra funding would be extended through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Government Savings Bank.
A number of 78,255 villages will be entitled to the extra funding, designed to help low-income earners tackle debts borrowed from unorganised channels, finance their investment, and serve as emergency funds in light of economic slowdown.
The scheme has loaned to 13 million borrowers, with outstanding loans of over Bt200 billion.
"The fund is a key instrument in driving the grassroot economy," Sommai said.
While villages will be charged 5 per cent for the loans, they can charge borrowers upto 10 per cent per annum. The maximum borrowing period is at 5 years.
Each village is entitled to different sums of money. Those in "A" Class will be allocated Bt1 million.
The Village Fund was one of populist policies introduced by the Thaksin administration.
