BANGKOK, 25 Nov 2014, The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has said the country’s household debt rate has shown signs of decline; however, it urged the officials to be careful not to encourage more loans.
According to Deputy Secretary General of the NESDB, Chutinart Wongsuban, the nation’s household debt figure in the 3rd quarter stands at 3 trillion baht, an increase of 8% on-year. The rate however slowed down from 10.7% in the first quarter and 8.8% in the second quarter of this year.
Overall non-performing loans (NPL) continued to rise, standing at 90 billion baht currently, increasing from 29.4% to 31.8% on-quarter, Ms. Chutinart said, adding that officials should keep an eye on the figures, as the livelihood of the people and financial institutions would be affected should the NPL figure keep climbing.
She also recommended that people generate more income, save more money and control their spending.
Employment rate in the agriculture sector declined by 1.8% in the third quarter as a result of drought and floods. However, employment rate outside of the agricultural sector increased by 9.6%, while the overall unemployment rate stands at 0.84%, a slight increase from the previous quarter’s 0.77%, the NESDB’s third-quarter report indicated
