Thailand’s state-run Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) has agreed to grant a one-year debt moratorium to 3.3 million farmers, farmer’s groups, agricultural cooperatives and village funds from April.
BAAC manager Mr. Apirom Sukprasert said today that this move will help cushion impacts, on farmers, their cooperatives and village funds, from COVID-19 and drought.
He said that the moratorium will be applied automatically to some 3.3 million borrowers, without affecting their debt status, adding that, cumulatively, such customers owe the bank about 1.2 trillion baht.
The BAAC has already rolled out several other measures for the sector. These include interest rate cuts, extensions of debt repayment periods, a three-month repayment suspension from April and debt suspension for six months from April for SMEs, for those owing less than 100 million baht, and soft loans for SMEs to improve their liquidity.
