State-owned banks are freezing loan rates to help people as interest rates remain elevated.
Following coordination with the government, Vitai Ratanakorn, president and chief executive of Government Savings Bank (GSB), said the bank will freeze its loan rates to help low-income earners and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers.
The bank has 6 million loan customers.
Last Wednesday, the Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 2.5%, the highest level in a decade.
Mr Vitai said GSB's eventual loan rate hike would depend on how strong and how quickly deposit rates increase.
If the rates increase quickly, it will affect the bank's margin, he said.
Krit Sesawet, director and acting president of the Government Housing (GH) Bank, said the bank is prepared to maintain its loan rates at the current level until the end of the year.
This should reduce the burden of monthly instalment payments, giving customers time to adjust to the rising interest rate, in line with the government's debt assistance measures, he said.
GH Bank has 1.79 million loan customers, representing outstanding loans worth more than 1.66 trillion baht.
Narthanaree Rattapat, president of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, said as a state financial institution that supports small businesses, the bank is freezing interest rates for all types of loans to alleviate their financial burden, giving SMEs adequate time to manage their businesses effectively.
The minimum retail rate for the bank is 8.05% per year, while the minimum lending rate is 7.05% per year.