Ex-deputy minister slams Prayut government over failure to tackle rising household debt

Narumon Pinyosinwat, who served in the second Cabinet of Prayut, said in her Facebook post that the government was only focused on debt moratorium measures and was providing new loans without a clear strategy to solve the problem.

As a result, she expects many families to remain trapped in their debt burden.

Narumon said the government should set a target for household debt at not more than 80% of gross domestic product (GDP) because a higher ratio of household debt would lead to a sluggish economy in the long term.

Narumon said all economic forecast agencies agreed that the global economy would slow down next year and it would affect the Thai economy, which would aggravate the household debt situation and affect economically vulnerable groups.

The impact of the global economic slowdown can already be felt in the contraction of exports by 6% in November and export growth for the year would slow down to 3.2%, compared to a 6% expansion last year, Narumon said.

The ex-deputy minister said the flood crisis in 2021 and the Covid-19 pandemic had aggravated the household debt situation from 80% of GDP in 2019 to 90% of GDP this year.