Cabinet okays B15bn GSB programme

The cabinet has approved the “Job Creation and Career Building” loan programme worth a total of 15 billion baht, primarily aimed at supporting street vendors and hawkers to help reduce their informal debt.
According to Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul, the weekly cabinet meeting Tuesday approved a resolution for the Government Savings Bank (GSB) to carry out the loan scheme with a total budget not exceeding 15 billion baht, meant to increase liquidity and alleviate debt for individuals, independent business owners, salaried employees, merchants, street vendors, hawkers and other service providers.
The loans can be used as working capital or to repay informal or high-interest loans taken out for business purposes.
The loan limit is 50,000 baht per person, with a fixed interest rate of 0.75% per month and a maximum repayment term of five years.
Applications are open until Dec 30, 2025.
The GSB will not request budget compensation from the government, choosing instead to reduce its profit margin. This loan is offered with more flexible terms than standard loans.
The Finance Ministry expects the programme will inject money into the economy to help more than 300,000 people.
Karom Polpornklang, deputy government spokesman, said the cabinet also approved a Government Housing (GH) Bank loan programme for purchasing, building or repairing homes with a low interest rate of 3% for the first five years.
The loan budget for purchasing or building homes is set at 50 billion baht, with an additional 5 billion baht allocated for repair loans.
Earlier in April, GH Bank launched a low-interest loan programme called “Happy Home” with a total loan amount of 20 billion baht.
This scheme offered flexible lending conditions to help low-income individuals access mortgages, with a maximum loan amount of 3 million baht per person and a fixed interest rate of 3% for the first five years.
However, this programme reached its loan limit.