BANGKOK, June 3 – The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) asked government-run financial institutions to tackle informal loan problems by lending to self-employed people, while at the same time it will push for a law to control debt repayment collection.
Luck Wajananawat, president of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), said the NCPO ordered the Fiscal Policy Office to propose a plan to deal with and resolve non-traditional loan problems.
The plan will be based on the NCPO’s intention for government-run financial institutions to form a corporate body to lend to small-scale business operators who have no access to formal financial institutions.
Such loans will be subject to a fixed interest rate of 3% per month. Besides, there will be a law to control debt repayment collection to take care of both creditors and debtors.
Mr Luck said that the BAAC is ready to meet the policy of the NCPO. The bank has studied lending to small-scale debtors who are not farmers. It will offer such loans together with local organizations including village funds, community-based financial institutions and agriculture-related cooperatives.
Local organizations will design lending methods while the BAAC will fund the lending. Mr Luck expects 3,000 new community-based financial institutions in three years.
