The cabinet has approved Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation's 8-billion-baht loan guarantee scheme for new entrepreneurs, startups and innovative entrepreneurs.
Under the new scheme, state-owned TCG will offer higher loan guarantee amounts than in the previous programme.
TCG will provide up to 5 million baht for individual small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs and startups, rising from 1 million in the previous scheme; 10 million baht for juristic SMEs, entrepreneurs and startups, doubling the earlier scheme; 10 million baht for individuals with innovations, up from 1 million; and 40 million baht for juristic entities that innovate.
The credit guarantee period for the new scheme is 10 years.
Interested parties are required to submit applications to TCG by February 2020.
The government expects the new scheme to assist 4,000 entrepreneurs with an average of 2 million baht each, said deputy government spokesman Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak.
The higher credit guarantee conforms with economic conditions, he said, as the previous scheme did not attract new entrepreneurs.
The government will allocate 1.36 billion baht from the fiscal 2020 and 2021 budgets to subsidise annual credit guarantee fees capped at 1.5%.
The cabinet endorsed TCG cutting the annual surcharge from 2% previously.
TCG last year provided credit guarantees worth 2 billion baht to 1,212 entrepreneurs, though the scheme's total amount was 10 billion baht.
The state-owned agency's new credit guarantees are aimed at 107 billion baht this year, up from 100 billion last year. To achieve the target, tailor-made products that match customer demand and lenders' portfolios are necessary, Maj Gen Weerachon said.
TCG recently rolled out a 10-billion-baht credit guarantee for motorcycle taxi drivers and self-employed workers to help them better access loans from financial institutions.
The cabinet also acknowledged an increase in public debt at the end of January. Public debt remained below the 60% threshold.
Public debt rose to 1.85 trillion baht, representing 43.3% of the country's GDP at the end of last month. The country's public debt rose by 32 billion baht from the previous month.
