Approval of debt relief extension
In the last cabinet meeting, the executive government approved an extension of debt relief measures for customers of seven state-owned financial institutions. The existing measures, which were set to expire in June or July of 2021, have been extended for a further six months.
The measures are varied, ranging from the suspension of principal and interest payments to the extension of the debt repayment period. Each financial institution has developed a range of different loans to support individuals and SMEs. One such measure being the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand which has allocated 75 billion baht to improve SME liquidity.
In the meeting, the Cabinet further endorsed extra supporting measures for SMEs, including increasing the Government Savings Bank’s soft loan period from five years to seven years, and extending the grace period for such loans from one year to two years.
These debt relief measures are still being utilized by around 3 million individual and SME customers of these financial institutions, totaling in around 1.2 trillion baht.
Approval of further relief packages
Following the meeting on 29 June 2021, Cabinet has approved an 8.5 billion-baht relief package to support those affected by the government’s latest COVID-19 restrictions in the wake of the third wave. The restrictions which came into effect on Monday and will be in force for 30 days, include a ban on dining inside restaurants in high risk areas and closures of construction sites in high risk provinces.
Cabinet approved the relief packages which previously only targeted eateries and construction firms, to cover entrepreneurs in a range of other sectors including spas, hotels, entertainment, repair shops, laundry shops, beauty shops and pet care clinics.
5 billion of the 8.5-billion-baht relief package will be taken from the one trillion-baht emergency loan decree, with the remaining coming from the Social Security Fund.
Eligible parties under the new relief package must now register through the Social Security Fund or Thung Ngern mobile application.