BANGKOK, 14 Mar 2014 — The Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) reported today it would make a payment of 500 million baht to 3,000 rice farmers who have yet to receive the payment from the rice suppport program.
Mr. Luck Watjananawat, President of the BAAC, stated that the bank was able to obtain the amount from its recently established Rice Farmers’ Fund, which has so far accumulated 846.2 Million baht. He said this first installment of 500 million baht would be transferred to BAAC branches for distribution to the registered rice farmers.
He underlines that the distribution order is determined by the queue assigned when the go-down receipt was issued, reassuring that the bank would maintain transparency when handing out the fund.
Regarding the 20 billion baht of central budget being borrowed from the Finance Ministry to speed up the payment of the the rice pledging scheme, Mr. Luck said that the matter is being finalized, reiterating that the payment would be resumed when the fund becomes available to the bank.
