A sustainable way to resolve informal lending
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Re: "Low income, access to funding key to tackle household debt: BOT chief", Business, October 17.
I agree with Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul, who said underground lending and high household debt cannot be tackled by debt-easing measures alone.
A considerable problem of the informal system is that most debtors have uncertain careers and earning.
It may be possible that the government will have to establish a fund to resolve informal lending in order to reduce their debt burden. The fund will pay on behalf of debtors, and they can repay to the fund at low-interest rates.
However, if they are still unable to adjust their own spending habits, the fund would just help them temporarily, and they will end up returning to the whirlpool of trouble by borrowing from informal system again and again.
Sutipunt Bongsununt
Kanchanaburi
