The Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG) expects to restructure debts for more than 5,000 companies this year, with a total debt value of about 5 billion baht.
According to TCG president Sittikorn Direksoonthorn, the company expects to provide assistance to 5,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have loans from financial institutions guaranteed by TCG and face repayment difficulties, leading the lending institutions to file compensation claims with TCG.
He said TCG categorised troubled debtors into three levels: purple, yellow and green.
The purple level refers to debtors who are still considered good borrowers but are experiencing difficulties managing their monthly repayments. TCG will support this group by extending the repayment period from four years to seven years, reducing their monthly principal payments by 50%, an increase from the previous reduction of 20%.
In addition, if the debtor fully repays their loan, they will receive a 10% principal reduction after 12 consecutive payments.
The yellow level refers to debtors who have the potential to continue repaying their loans. TCG plans to assist them by alleviating their financial burden during the economic slowdown.
The repayment period will be extended from four years to seven years, and if they can fully repay their debt, they will receive a 10% principal reduction after 12 consecutive payments.
With the green level, categorised as good debtors with discipline, the measure for this group involves reducing the principal in full. Debtors who fully repay their loans will receive up to a 15% principal reduction after six consecutive payments.
To provide greater support to SMEs across all sectors, in alignment with the government's debt resolution measures, the TCG board approved new debt relief measures for TCG's vulnerable SME debtors on Dec 25, 2024. These include SME borrowers for whom TCG has paid compensation claims and who have principal amounts not exceeding 200,000 baht.
There are more than 100,000 such accounts. The measures include a 0% interest rate, a maximum repayment period of 80 months, full principal forgiveness, and minimum monthly instalment payments of only 500-2,500 baht.
