Bank of Thailand explores credit guarantee schemes for SMEs

The Bank of Thailand is contemplating the establishment of credit guarantee schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their access to bank loans. Suwannee Jatsadasak, assistant governor for the supervision group, stated that the central bank is analysing various credit guarantee schemes implemented in other countries, including Japan and Taiwan. These nations offer more extensive credit guarantee packages to SMEs than Thailand, based on the mutual sharing of benefits and risks between businesses and financial institutions. Therefore, these schemes necessitate less government budget support.

The Bank of Thailand provided data revealing a 0.3% contraction in bank loans in 2023 compared to the previous year. SMEs with a credit line of less than 500 million baht each experienced a 5.1% year-on-year contraction in loans in the third…