Ministry faces trouble spending SME funds
The Industry Ministry is concerned that it may not be able to make use of all the money earmarked to promote small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the 2007 budget.
Funds to support SMEs are adequate for a full year, but the government has only nine months to spend the money, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Chakramon Phasukavanich said yesterday. The 2007 budget bill is expected to be passed by the National Legislative Assembly next month, having been delayed from October by the political crisis. The ministry plans to spend Bt1 billion to promote One Tambon One Product industries next year. It will also cooperate with the Federation of Thai Industries to support SMEs with funds totalling Bt800 million and, in collaboration with the Science and Technology Ministry, will spend Bt400 million in research to help SME businesses. Chakramon told a seminar hosted by the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand that one of the ministry's plans was to set up service providers by cooperating with regional universities in every province to serve SME firms. Meanwhile, the SME Bank plans to make new loans amounting to Bt20 billion next year, he said. Regional office managers will be authorised to approve loans of up to Bt3 million, making the loan-application process faster. Chakramon said the SME Bank would reduce its non-performing loans (NPLs) from 35 per cent of total loans to 27 per cent next year. Part of this huge level of NPLs is alleged to have resulted from collusion between bank officials and borrowers having connections with the former government. They are under investigation by the Finance Ministry. Wichit Chaitrong, The Nation
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