BANGKOK, 3 May 2012 – The Thai central bank has reported lukewarm public response to the government-sponsored low-interest loans, which is blamed on technical hiccups.
Bank of Thailand (BoT)’s Deputy Governor Krirk Vanikkul said that the central bank is now in the middle of discussions with various financial institutions about the obstacles that have turned the public away from the special loan project for flood victims.
The loan project was a brainchild of the government, which has allocated 300 billion baht to help those hit hard by last year’s severe flooding.
According to the BoT, only 3 billion baht worth of loans have been approved, to date.
Mr. Krirk said that the project’s underachievement has largely been attributed by the problems in IT works.
However, he is confident that more flood victims will apply for the special loans from this month on.
The BoT’s Deputy Governor also stated that, even though the government has made the post-flood loan project one of its important policies, all risk and credit analyses have been thoroughly reviewed and checked before loans can be granted. This is to avoid the problem of bad debts in the future, said Mr. Krirk.
