Govt secures B38bn from special fund

Govt secures B38bn from special fund

The government has secured 38 billion baht in loans for students who want to borrow money from the Student Loan Fund (SLF) without having guarantors for this academic year.

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said on Tuesday the government has already prepared loans for about 624,000 students for this academic year.

Ms Rachada said the government understands that given the current situation with Covid-19, many people across the country are struggling to cope and loan takers would find it especially difficult to secure guarantors in line with the SLF's normal rules.

As a result, she said the government decided to scrap the rules for loan takers having to seek guarantors so that they can have easier access to the fund.

Ms Rachada went on to say that the SLF has so far provided around three billion baht in loans for students for this academic year and that it was considering the loan requests of more students.

She said students who want to borrow from the fund should not be worried as the government has secured a higher budget for students.

According to Ms Rachada, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was worried about the debts of students and teachers. So, he asked state agencies to come up with measures to help solve the debt problems in a more systematic manner. She said the SLF has also launched relief measures to help these students.

She said it has reduced the interest rate to 0.01% for those who have never failed to pay off their debts; it has reduced 100% of the debt fine for those who have completed the debt payment; and it has reduced the fine to 80% in cases of late payment.

The SLF will also postpone filing charges against students who failed to pay off their debts for the last academic year and this academic up to March 31, except for those cases whose period of limitation will expire this year. Those with state welfare cards will be allowed to delay repayment for two years.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)