Thai central bank to help COVID-19-hit firms with debt restructuring
The Bank of Thailand (BoT) will focus on assisting businesses, especially those severely affected by COVID-19 pandemic, to restructure their debts, the bank’s Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said on August 21.
Hanoi (VNA) – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) willfocus on assisting businesses, especially those severely affected by COVID-19pandemic, to restructure their debts, the bank’s Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said on August 21.
Veerathai saidthat readjusting fiscal policy can help the Thai economy recover from theimpact of COVID-19.
However, Veerathai said the central bank cannot lower its 0.5percent benchmark interest rate, as it is already at a record low.
The BoT's debt restructuring scheme will allow debtors tosuspend principal and interest payment for up to six months, said the governor.
Normally, debt restructuring is available together with loanofferings, said Veerathai.
He said that the additional loan guarantee scheme willsupport small and medium-sized enterprises that have suffered from the pandemic.
The governor said that Thai commercial banks have withdrawnmore than 75 billion THB (2.37 billion U.S. dollars) of the central bank'ssoft loans since its implementation, with total loans amounting to more than500 billion THB (15.8 billion U.S. dollars).
Under the conditions of the soft loan scheme, banks cannotoffer credit lines to all customers, explained Veerathai./.
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