Govt confident to solve informal debt problems

BANGKOK, 22 November 2009 (NNT) – Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is confident that the government would be able to eradicate informal debts among Thai people soon with the recently launched government project to bring informal debts into the conventional loan system.

Prime Minister Abhisit stated during his weekly TV program ‘Confidence in Thailand with Prime Minsiter Abhsit’, that informal debt was a big issue for many Thai citizens. He believed that this would be the first time that the problem of informal debts in Thailand would be completely dealth with. Under the project, indebted people would be given a chance to transfer their debts to state-owned banks.

Debtors with less than 200,000 THB worth of informal debts incurred before 19 November 2009, can register themselves with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the Government Savings Bank (GSB), which will proceed with negotiations with their creditors. The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Office will help in the negotiating process.

Meanwhile, the interest rate charged from each debtor will not exceed 12% per annum, and the loan must be paid back within eight years. In addition, Prime Minister Abhisit said that the government would provide some job training programs for debtors too, in an integrated effort to solve the problem.