Cabinet gives nod to flood rehab, capital
The Cabinet yesterday approved several financial measures for flood rehabilitation and capital-market development.
The government will give Bt4.44 billion to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) as compensation for lost interest income in helping customers, mainly farmers, to recover from the unprecedented flooding, as proposed by the Finance Ministry.
The BAAC’s flood-relief support for individual farmers will be extended to cover cooperatives, community-based enterprises and village and community funds, as well as certain other groups. Under the scheme, the bank will grant a debt moratorium for three years starting this year, with zero interest.
New three-year loans will be charged only 4 per cent or the minimum lending rate (MLR) minus 1 percentage point.
The bank reported that 127,373 farm households had been affected by floods with loans outstanding of Bt12.66 billion.
The Mae Fah Luang Foundation will receive Bt25 million from the government for its post-flood recovery efforts.
To support capital-market development, the operations of trusts and trustees will be exempt from income tax, value-added tax, specific business tax and stamp duties.
To facilitate mergers and acquisitions, taxes will be waived on dividends that one firm receives from another company.
The import-duty exemption for natural-gas tanks was extended.
The Finance Ministry was given more time to build a world-class convention centre in Phuket. Now it has until 2014 to sign a construction contract for the mega-project.
The Cabinet also agreed in principle with the second-phase development of state-run Siriraj Hospital.
