Bangkok--7 Feb--KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) are offering special loans to assist Thai-Japanese businesses with investment expansion ahead of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), totaling 1.7 billion Baht, carrying interest of 5 to 6 percent, with installment periods of up to 6 years.
According to Mr. Songpol Chevapanyaroj, KASIKORNBANK Executive Vice President, KBank, JBIC and 11 Japanese partner banks had earlier offered special low-interest loans to Thai and Japanese businesses in Thailand that were hit by the 2011 flooding.
The partnership program has now been enhanced to cover Japanese business operators in Thailand whose parent firms in Japan have registered capital of no more than 1 billion yen. The program also covers Thai business operators that have business relationships with Japan, or Japanese trade partners in Thailand which were impacted by the 2011 floods, had never participated in the program before, and planned to expand their ASEAN operations ahead of the AEC inception in 2015.
KBank, JBIC and other Japanese partner banks will offer special low-interest loans for businesses aiming to invest in production process enhancement or expand operations abroad for higher production efficiency, in line with rising competition and AEC inception in 2015. The 1.7 billion Baht in loans carry a special low interest rate of 5 to 6 percent with an installment period of 3 to 6 years, and a maximum credit limit of 330 million Baht each, equivalent to 1 billion yen.
Mr. Songpol added that the assistance loans for SMEs offered by KBank and JBIC will enable customers to have smooth investment expansion, driving Thai-Japanese businesses with proactive business strategies amid intensified competition in the upcoming ASEAN market over the next two to three years. The below-industry-average interest rate will allow participating businesses to operate with lower funding costs in compensation for the recent minimum wage hike and impact from recent Baht appreciation. Thus, they will be able to compete in the regional market and prepare for the AEC inception with stability.