More than half of Thailand’s household debt is good debt says Finance Ministry

BANGKOK (NNT) – Although Thailand’s household debt has increased due to the COVID-19 crisis, household debt in many countries has also risen.

More than half of typical household debt is good debt, including home loans and business loans. The government and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have continually taken measures to help debtors repay their creditors.

Adviser to the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), Wuttipong Jittungsakul, said today the COVID-19 situation caused the economy to contract in 2020, raising the level of household debt against the gross domestic product (GDP) to 86.6 per cent in the third quarter of last year.

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The figure was calculated using the country’s GDP growth rate in 2020, a negative 6.1 percent.

Other countries, such as Australia, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, South Korea and Malaysia, have also experienced similar circumstances. Their household debt to GDP ratio increased by between 87.5 percent and 128.1 percent.

More than half of Thailand’s household debt is good debt, as people acquired loans to improve their quality of life. Thirty-four per cent was in home loans, 30 per cent was for personal consumption, 18 per cent was in business loans and 13 per cent was in car and motorcycle loans.

Since the COVID-19 crisis, the government and the central bank have rolled out debt relief measures, such as extending repayment periods, suspending debt repayments, reducing interest rates, implementing debt restructuring and waiving interest payments. As a result, most debtors are able to repay their loans as usual, while the number of people asking for assistance has decreased. Once the economic situation improves, household debt is expected to decrease.

Information and Source
Reporter : Praphorn Praphornkul
Rewriter : Tarin Angskul
National News Bureau & Public Relations :
http://thainews.prd.go.th

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