The cabinet on Tuesday approved fiscal measures to help the virus-hit tourism sector - including a tax payment delay, soft loans and relaxed loan repayments.
Lavaron Sangsanit, finance ministery spokesman, said personal income tax payment was extended from the end of March to June 30, and companies can deduct twice as much as their expenses on local meetings and seminars this year from their taxable income.
Hoteliers can deduct 1.5 times as much as their spending on renovation this year from their taxable income. The excise tax on aircraft fuel was cut from 4.726 baht to 0.20 baht a litre until Sept 30.
The tax measures were expected to cut state revenue by about 4.5 billion baht.
Mr Lavaron said, state-run financial institutions would provide soft loans worth a total of 123 billion baht to tourism-related businesses, with interest starting at 3%.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank offered a six-month debt moratorium for collateral repayment to disciplined borrowers. Government Savings Bank introduced moratoriums of up to five years and Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation suspended guarantee fees for 12 months.
The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Thailand agreed that these would not be the last measures to shore up the economy, Mr Lavaron said.
