BANGKOK, Feb 11 – About 3,000 farmers rallied at the Government Housing Bank (GHB) today, demanding the bank to cut non-performing loans (NPL) incurred by farmers and transfer them to the state’s rehabilitation scheme.
Kim-ung Pongnarai, coordinator of the Federation of Farmers Association Networks of Thailand, said farmers have repeatedly called on the GHB and several other state-operated banks to subtract the farmers’ NPLs the way most commercial banks did.
She said the NPLs could be transferred to the Farmers Rehabilitation and Development Fund (FRDF) to be further managed under conditions set by the fund and leniency to debtors.
Ms Kim-Ung said commercial banks have shifted their NPLs to the FRDF at a total value of Bt3 billion, involving 200,000-300,000 farmers. The combined NPLs at commercial banks, incurred by about 500,000 farmers between 2003 and 2013, are worth Bt60 billion.
State-run banks said they are not allowed by law to transfer their NPLs, Ms Kim-ung said, urging the government to amend the law to facilitate and equalise the financial leniency.
She said farmers’ debts should be slashed by half to enable them to repay the other half with the FRDF as practiced by commercial banks but state-owned banks took the farmers’ assets which were put as collateral for public auction.
State-run banks should hold their assets for 10 years, instead of six years, before subjecting them to auction, she said.
Other state-operated banks as mentioned by Ms Kim-ung included the Small- and Medium-Enterprises Bank, Government Savings Bank, Islamic Bank of Thailand and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. (MCOT online news)
