BANGKOK: Thai farmer Jamras Kongchai is struggling to pay off 500,000 baht in debt as money from the sale of her crops is not enough to make payments.
Such protests have put further pressure on the Thai government, which is already grappling with mounting pro-democracy demonstrations and struggling to revive the pandemic-hit economy.Thai households are among the biggest borrowers in Asia, racking up a debt mountain of 14 trillion baht, or 89.3 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of December, a sharp rise from 78.1 per cent in 2017. And, they are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with payments.
The government has promised 1 trillion baht in relief to ease the impact of the outbreak, but some say relief is not being rolled out fast enough for many Thais. Last year, a woman took rat poison outside the finance ministry to protest the slow response. She survived and was promised her payment days later.The growing debt burden is likely to curb private consumption, which accounts for half of Thailand's US$502 billion GDP, and will hurt lenders' earnings if more loans turn sour.
But loans with a significant increase in credit risk jumped, with autos loans hitting 9.5 per cent of lending, the highest in at least three years. READ: With Southeast Asia's highest suicide rate, Thailand grapples with mental health challenge amid pandemic
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