BANGKOK, 7 June 2013 The Ministry of Justice is planning to make the informal debt issue a national agenda after finding that more than 1.2 million people are indebted to loan sharks with some of them forced to repay at an interest rate as high as 360% per year.
A survey conducted by the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, and the Ministry of Justice showed that the informal debt problem is a complicated issue that deserves the same level of attention as the poverty issue from the government.
Mr. Preecha Thananant, Assistant to the Justice Minister, said at a recent seminar that a center should be set up to specifically look into the informal debt problem and allow integrated efforts by all sectors involved to find sustainable solutions. The survey also revealed that loan sharks often forced their debtors to sign an agreement enabling the former to file a lawsuit once the latter fail to pay installments on time.
The survey team suggested that amendments be made to relevant laws to penalize loan sharks who demand an interest rate of higher than 15% per year. Under the proposed amendment, loan sharks will be convicted on the same charge as money laundering, having a jail term of at least 10 years.
