The state-owned Government Savings Bank has allocated 5 billion baht for loans to 100,000 street-food vendors this year, almost double last year’s amount.

The vendors are also being invited to take part in a TV reality programme to show their culinary skills, with prizes worth millions of baht. 

GSB president Chatchai Payuhanaveechai announced the new round of soft loans, and the contest, on Tuesday.

Under the plan,100,000-baht loans would be made to each eligible street vendor, and 500,000-baht loans would be available for food truck operators, said Mr Chatchai.

Street food played a vital role in the country’s economy as it helped keep the cost of urban living down. For example, people could buy street food dishes for 30 baht while prices in shopping malls were much higher, the GSB president said.

Thailand is a popular tourist destination with 35-38 million foreign visitors per year. If each tourist spent about 1,000 baht on street food, this would pump about 35 billion baht into the economy, he said.

GSB also planned a street-food contest, to encourage vendors to show their cooking creativity. It would be a reality show, broadcast live on television. 

Applications for would-be entrants opened on Wednesday and would close on April 15, with winning prizes of more than 2 million baht, Mr Chatchai said.

Applicants must be Thai nationals, aged 20 years or more and earn their living selling street food, meals and beverages, on footpaths or public areas, in shophouses, food pavilions or from food trucks.

For further details are available on www.facebook.com/gsbstreetfooodtv.