At the first meeting of the Cabinet on September 13, the new government announced a debt moratorium policy for farmers and small businesses. It was a common refrain of many political parties during the campaign for the May 14 general election as they went all-out to woo voters.
Critics have long suspected political expediency rather than any serious attempt to solve the economic issue as the motivation for the debt suspension pledges.
Over the past nine years, the two former governments headed by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha had implemented debt suspension for farmers.
The outcome has been far from good, according to Sommarat Chantarat, research director, and Lathaporn Ratanavararak, principal researcher, at Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economics Research, who have studied the previous debt suspension schemes.
By analyzing the data base of the National Credit Bureau, the two researchers…
