The State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) is preparing to increase the pawn limit as state-run pawnshops expand and gold prices rise, says director-general Tibordee Wattanakul.
The Office of Government Pawnshops (OGP) is a state enterprise supervised by the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, and among the nine entities overseen by Sepo.
In 2023, OGP-run shops lent up to 20 billion baht, accounting for around 1.1 million pieces of pawned items, of which 88% were pawned gold.
Net profit generated by the 45 state pawnbrokers nationwide amounted to 885 million baht, up by 42 million baht from the previous year.
Mr Tibordee said the majority of pawned items are gold.
The OGP asked Sepo to increase the pawn limit from 100,000 baht per item to 200,000 baht per item, in line with the rising gold price.
There are an estimated 800 pawnshops nationwide, including state-run pawnshops, private pawnshops and city hall-run pawnshops.
The fortunes of pawnshops often have an inverse relationship to economic conditions. When pawns rise and retail sales drop, the economy is usually slowing.
Conversely, a strong economy often reduces pawns and increases sales.
The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) announced GDP expanded by only 1.8% in 2023, lower than its previous forecast of 2.7%.
The FPO expects the economy to grow by 2.8% this year.
However, private consumption dropped in December 2023, as reflected by the number of newly registered motorcycles, a 7% decline year-on-year.
The collection of value-added tax was 1.4% lower in the month than the amount collected in December 2022.
Income generated by the agricultural sector in December contracted 1.2% from December 2022.