Finance urged to borrow more for rice-pledging scheme

 

Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives President Luck Wajananawat said that the request would be raised at the National Rice Policy Committee's meeting.

Luck said that the loan would be used to cover the rice pledging during the 2013-2014 harvest season. 

If this proposal is approved, the Cabinet will need to revise the October 3, 2012 resolution that sets limit on revolving funds for the scheme at Bt500 billion. 

According to Luck, the BAAC which is the key state-owned institution in charge of the pledging had advanced Bt680 billion, since the scheme was kicked off in 2011. However, the Commerce Ministry has sold rice in stockpiles for only Bt140 billion, which lowered the outstanding amount to Bt540 billion. For now, there is no liquidity to finance the pledging in the new season, though over 1.2 million tonnes have been harvested. 

With the approval from the National Rice Policy Committee, the BAAC board of directors will convene on November 8 to approve the advance payments for the scheme. This will later be replaced by the Finance Ministry's loan and BAAC will be entitled to interest payment from the government, Luck said.