Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs(SMEs) are rushing to apply for the state owned Government Savings Bank's (GSB) 100-billion-baht soft-loan scheme, with 1800 of Kasikornbank's customers seeking a combined 15 billion in loans.
Some 70-80% of the loan amount is expected to be approved, said Patchara Samalapa, a KBank executive vice-president. It has already granted 2 billion baht of the 15 billion worth of lone applications.
The government's soft-loan scheme is aimed at helping SMEs that have been battered by the economic slowdown and weak purchasing power. Applications for the programme began in mid-September. Under the scheme, the GSB will charge commercial banks interest at 0.1% and the latter will relend to SMEs at 4%.
The GSB recently forecast the entire 100 billion baht in loans would be taken out by year-end.
KBank, the country's largest SME lender, estimated it would lend 60 billion baht in new SME loans this quarter, half of which would be re lent through the GSB scheme, said Mr.Patchara