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Two banks offer grace periods on loan repayment

Two banks offer grace periods on loan repayment

Kasikornbank (KBank) has offered a 12-month grace period on repayment of the loan principle amount to its existing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) customers in the tourism sector as a measure to ease their financial burden amid impacts from the coronavirus crisis.

The bank is surveying impacts of the virus outbreak on its corporate customers, said president Predee Daochai in a statement on Wednesday (January 29). 
Earlier, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) said it was offering a six-month grace period for repayment of the loan principal amount to existing customers in the hotel business affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
If the crisis prolongs, SCB said it would introduce further measures in support of clients, said president Sarut Ruttanaporn.
Thanawat Phonvichai, president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, predicted that the problem, if prolonged until March, could cost the Thai tourism industry between Bt80 billion to Bt100 billion this year.
His estimate was based on the usual number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand of around one million a month with average spending of Bt50,000 each.

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