BANGKOK, 3 Jan 2014 The Bank of Thailand (BOT) revealed that the rate of household debt per GDP in 2013’s final quarter has increased to 80.1% from 79.2% in the Q3.
Ms. Rung Maklikamas, the BOT spokeswoman attributed the consumer’s decreasing purchasing power and the increasing loans during the nation’s economic downturn last year to the debt surge.
Nonetheless, she said that the situation is not a severe one yet, as personal lending without security has decreased to 13.5% in November from the previous 20-30% in the beginning of 2013. Ms. Rung said another positive sign is in the overall non-performing loans which accounted for only 2.3% of the total credit outlay in November, or only a 0.1% increase from the previous month.
Ms. Rung said that mosts of the NPLs are connected with loans incurred under the Government’s first car policy.
