Among the headwinds threatening the economy, the asset quality of the banking sector is the most
important and it is essential to be prudent to prevent an upsurge in nonperforming loans (NPLs) as in
the past few years.
Don Nakornthab, senior director for financial institutions strategy at the Bank of Thailand, said last
week that bad loans could rise further this year, but commercial banks have predicted NPLs will peak this year and could decline in later periods, assuming the economic recovery is on track.