Bangkok--11 May--Siam Commercial Bank
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) continues to support SME clients through measures following government directives, including deferments and soft loan schemes, to help them stay buoyant, as SMEs in every sector have been directly and indirectly impacted by COVID-19 since the first quarter of the year. SCB is now preparing to further support government construction contractors in order to strengthen the country’s long-term consumption patterns.
SCB Senior Executive Vice President and Chief SME Banking Officer Pikun Srimahunt said that the bank has been supporting SMEs affected by COVID-19 impacts through various measures despite the current economic slowdown. Now SCB is prepared to support long-term public infrastructure development and construction contractors in bidding for government projects, as government expenditures continue following a 2020 annual budget expenditure of 3.2 trillion baht, including 640 billion baht in public infrastructure development for mega projects in the pipeline, such as the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), the Eastern High-Speed Rail Linking Three Airports, Map Ta Phut Industrial Port, and other projects. SCB sees this as an opportunity to benefit construction contractors in bidding on government construction projects and state enterprise investment this year to compensate for the slowdown in private investment and consumption. While waiting for the government’s signal to go ahead, SCB has prepared loan packages designed specifically for SME public infrastructure construction contractors with the readiness and potential to compete with confidence in government and state enterprise project bidding this year.
The total financial solutions tailored for the government construction contractor sector includes a waiver of fund transfer fees for one year for fund transfers via SCB Business Anywhere, so clients can save transaction costs to help them provide for their staff and for business liquidity. Also on offer are a waiver of fees until further notice for fund transfers via the SCB EASY app and inter-region cheque deposits (when paying insurance premiums of a minimum of 500,000 baht) for increased support and protection, working capital for public infrastructure construction contractors including unsecured letters of guarantee (L/G) of up to 100 million baht, and overdraft (O/D) and promissory notes (P/N) for up to 100% of collateral value to boost liquidity. SCB has set a budget of 17 billion baht for this scheme to support construction contractors in bidding for public infrastructure construction contracts. Also available under this scheme is Pojjaman 2, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package for maximizing business effectiveness for construction contractors, provided in partnership with construction contract expert Builk.
To apply for the total financial solution for the government construction contractor sector, visit https://scbsme.scb.co.th/products-detail/sme-government-construction from now until December 31, 2020. For more information about loan conditions, contact your Relationship Manager or the SCB SME Call Center at 0 2722 2222.