New loan guarantees provide Thai SMEs with more financial flexibility

State-owned Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG) has launched six new loan guarantee programmes for SMEs in Thailand that are facing financial trouble due to the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. 

The new loan programmes have a combined loan guarantee of 40 billion baht (US$1.33 billion), and are rolled out through financial institutions affiliated with TCG, the Bangkok Post reports.

The loan guarantee programmes will incentivise six affiliated banks to provide loans to vulnerable borrowers such as merchants, street vendors, business operators at the grassroots level and freelancers, said TCG president Rak Vorrakitpokatorn.

The maximum claim is capped at 35-40%, which is higher than the previous threshold of 25-30%, said the president. 

Meanwhile, the Thailand government has also rolled out compensation payments for insured workers unemployed due to the pandemic. 

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Jobless workers who are insured under the Social Security Act are entitled to compensation under a regulation on unemployment benefits, which took effect on December 19. 

To qualify, unemployed workers must have contributed to the Social Security Fund for at least six months before they became unemployed, and are entitled to receive the benefit at a rate of 50% of their daily wage for the whole period of lockdown, quarantine, or closure of businesses, but for no more than 90 days at a time.