BANGKOK, 9 August 2014 – The Bank of Thailand has asserted there is enough liquidity among commercial banks to facilitate lending and investment as the Thai economy gains momentum.
BOT spokesperson Rung Mallikamas said banks also had enough liquidity to support the future growth of lending and investments by the state and private sectors. She disclosed that as of Thursday, there was as much as 4.5 trillion baht of excess liquidity in the system, and it would take a long time for this amount to become thinly spread. This is because private sector investment will require a lengthy period until it fully recovers; at the same time, banks are being cautious in approving certain types of loans, such as personal loans. Automobile hire purchase is still slowing down due to the aftereffects of the first car buyers program.
Ms. Rung explained that competition between financial institutes has eased because the institutes have re-prioritized and were placing emphasis on the segments of the population that had so far not been able to access capital sources.
