The second fund will help SMEs to enter new markets to improve sales and exports. The third fund will offer soft loans from commercial banks worth a combined billion baht as additional liquidity for SMEs that want to expand or invest. Mrs Atchaka declined to reveal which parts of the package were unacceptable to Mr Somkid. She said senior officials from the Indus- try Ministry and other agencies need t meet Mr Somkid over the next few days to discuss other measures to support SMEs before resubmitting the plan "We hope we will figure out new meas ures to support SMEs shortly. We hope the policy will be resubmitted for cabinet approval next Tuesday," she said The government's initial plan aimed to support up to 10,000 SMEs to survive the current situation of low liquidity and capital flows to help penetrate new markets.
"Roughly, we have around 10% of overal SMEs nationwide that need urgent support from the government," said Mrs Atchaka. About 40% will need the government's advice on expanding their businesses, while 50% will need supporting programmes to grow further, she said. Thailand has 2.7 million SMEs, 80% of which have never paid corporate tax.