TCG offers six SME programmes

State-owned Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG) has launched six new loan guarantee programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a combined loan guarantee of 40 billion baht.

All six programmes are urgent measures rolled out through financial institutions affiliated with TCG, intending to help vulnerable business operators including SMEs, said TCG president Rak Vorrakitpokatorn.

These loan guarantee programmes have incentives for six affiliated banks to provide loans to vulnerable borrowers such as merchants, street vendors, business operators at the grassroots level and freelancers, said Mr Rak.

The maximum claim is capped at 35-40%, higher than the previous threshold of 25-30%, he said.

These programmes are designed to support liquidity for vulnerable business operators for around 3-4 months, said Mr Rak. TCG has set aside 100 billion baht in loan guarantees if the latest amount is inadequate, he said. Based on TCG statistics, the requested amount of loan guarantees averages 10 billion baht per month.

Two loan guarantee programmes are designed for micro-entrepreneurs, startups and independent entrepreneurs. The first programme charges no fee during the first two years, with a loan guarantee amount of 200,000 to 20 million baht for a period of up to 10 years, and a maximum claim of up to 35%.

The second programme charges no fee for the first three years, with a loan guarantee amount of 10,000 to 100,000 baht for a period of up to 10 years, and a maximum claim of up to 40%. The combined loan guarantee amount for the first two projects is 5 billion baht.

The remaining programmes are designed for general SMEs, with no fee for the first two years, for a period of up to 10 years.

The loan guarantee amount ranges from 10,000 baht to 100 million baht per business operator.