MicroFinance Thailand: Home Page

English

ไทย

Home Archives

FAQs

1. What is Micro-Credit?

2. What is a MFI?

3. Who are the clients of microfinance?

4. How does microfinance help the poor?

5. Aren't the poor too poor to save?

6. Why do MFIs charge such high interest rates to poor people?

more FAQs...

Events

July-Oct 2009 - Microfinance Training of Trainers Course
»An online training program for people interested in microfinance. Course materials are in English and in Thai.

21-25 September 2009 - Second ECHO Agricultural Conference (Chiang Mai)

Home

21 January, 2010

A Million Seek Govt Help with Loan Shark Debts

By The Nation
Published on January 19, 2010

Close to a million people owing just under Bt105 billion in total to local loansharks had registered for the government debt-relief scheme last month, a source at the Interior Ministry reported yesterday.

Bangkok had the most people registered with 67,362 debtors and Bt6.25 billion in total debt.

This was followed by Surin, which had 60,719 debtors who owed a total of Bt6.30 billion; followed by 47,923 debtors who owed some Bt5.35 billion in Nakhon Ratchasima; 36,607 debtors owing Bt3.84 billion in Si Sa Ket and 32,910 debtors owing Bt3.41 billion in Ubon Ratchathani.

Samut Songkram had the least with just 1,611 people owing Bt170.6 million in debt, followed by Ranong's 1,777 debtors owing Bt178.7 million, Trat's 1,822 debtors owing some Bt202.4 million, 2,545 people in Mae Hong Son who owed Bt273.8 million in debt, plus 2,557 people in Sing Buri who owe some Bt270.9 million.

Interior Ministry officials will contract provinces and districts from February 1-15 for details and set dates for debtor-creditor talks after receiving information on the debtors on February 1 from the Finance Ministry.

Negotiations were expected to complete buy-ups of these debts at a rate of about 25 per cent per month from February 16 to June 16.

Source: The Nation

0 comments

BAAC Confirms Start of Village Banking Program

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The governor of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) confirmed plans to start the Village Bank microfinance program. The BAAC is currently hiring up to 1,000 personnel for program which is expected to start in April of this year. The Village Bank program will be a subsidiary of the BAAC and keep all accounts and activities separate from its main operations.

For individual loans, interest will be charged at 12% per year or 1% per month which is equivalent to the Government Savings Bank (GSB) loan program. However; interest rates at the BAAC are based on a declining balance while the GSB is a fixed rate. The BAAC is planning to include a savings requirement as part of the loan program. During the first three years, available capital for lending will be 6,000 million baht is expected to have up to 300,000 subscribers. Individual loans will normally not exceed 20,000 baht and a maximum amount is capped at 50,000 baht.

The program has a 3 year time span. After this time, it will be assessed to ensure that it is successful in terms of repayments. Prior to starting, the BAAC plans to talk with the GSB and other agencies to ensure that duplication of programs so not exist.

Source: Pandintong / The Daily News

0 comments

19 January, 2010

Govt to Establish Village Banks

BANGKOK, 16 January 2010 (NNT) - A community bank will be established under the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to help grassroots people gain access to loan.

The project, approved by Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij and the BAAC board, will not focus on expanding branches but on attracting organizations or networks with similar goals. Village and community funds, even informal creditors, will be drawn to take part in the community bank project.

The Finance Minister said that operations of the community bank will be different from the state-run Government Savings Bank (GSB); however, they share the same goal of providing loans to more than one million grassroots.

As for interest rates used by the community banks, they will be fixed like the People’s Bank, another project to assist the grassroots financially. The rates will be figured by the BAAC.

The community bank is expected to commence this year.

The Finance Minister also assigned the GSB to promote funds for low-income earners, help informal debtors, facilitate SMEs, and create a culture of savings. The minister said he wanted the GSB to distribute a new lot of Strong Thai bonds to a wider group of people.

Source: National News Bureau of Thailand

0 comments

18 January, 2010

Govt Village Banking Program in Full Gear

Finance Minister Korn has given the green light for program.

Saturday, 16 January 2010

In a meeting this week, Finance Minister Korn informed the Board of Directors of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) that he has approved the establishment of the Village Banking program. The Village Bank model is different from the Government Savings Bank but with similar goals of disbursing credit to millions of people who currently take loans from loan sharks. The new program will focus on rural communities and will be very comprehensive in it services.

Village Banks help people and entrepreneurs who have low income to access capital in the formal financial sector. Often called microfinance, the program will be able to allocate approximately 6,000 million baht as working capital during the first three years of operations. The government intends to force existing lending programs, such as existing savings groups or NGO programs, to join with the BAAC to create a more streamlined and efficient system.

It is estimated that each Village Bank will have about 100 members and will be eligible for loans with interest rates of .75% per month. Individuals may borrow from the program at 1% per month.

Source Post Today

0 comments

15 January, 2010

BAAC Announces Details of Microfinance Program.

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has announced details of its Village Banking program. The focus of the program is for rural and lower income households and to assist them to transition from taking loans from the formal financial sector instead of informal moneylenders.

The Village Banking program will be a sub-unit and act independently from the work of the BAAC but the services will be based in BAAC branches in order to reduce operating costs. Initial credit allocation will be 6 billion baht ($180 milllion USD). Interest rates will be 1 % per month (12% per year) for individual borrowers and 0.75% per month (9% per year) for group borrowing.

The program has been approved by the Ministry of Finance and is expected to start on April 1 of this year.

Mr. ThanaWichai, Director General of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce, supports the concept. “It will be a key starting point to enable people in the community. It will provide more access to capital in the formal sector rather than relying on outside sources of capital like the current system. However, operations should focus on the issue of saving rather than borrowing alone in order to help the community is really strong.”

Source: Matichon

0 comments

14 January, 2010

BAAC Hiring 1000 staff for New Microfinance Program

The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is in full gear to set up its new microfinance program. Starting in April, the BAAC plans to operate a new Village Banking program with a loan fund of 3,000 million baht ($150 million USD). Interest rates are expected to be subsidized with a rate of around 6-10% per year.

In order to be prepared for operations, the BAAC is currently recruiting an additional 1000 staff. To date, 76,000 people have registered to take the required entrance exam in hopes of receiving one of these positions.

Source BAAC website

0 comments