Labour Minister M.R. Chatu Mongol Sonakul reported that the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the overall national economy, including workplaces that face a lack of working capital or financial liquidity, affecting employees and insured persons in terms of employment. The government and the Ministry of Labour have measures to help businesses that have been affected by economic impacts of Covid-19, to maintain employment, resulting in insured persons having continuous employment and remaining in the social security system. The Ministry of Labour’s Social Security Office has a credit program to promote employment, with a credit limit of 30,000 million baht. It is in the form of refinance loans, not exceeding 50 percent of the loans granted by each bank. The period for submitting the loan request is from the beginning of the project up until December 31, 2020, or until the project credit limit is exhausted. The approved credit limit to promote employment of 30,000 million Baht, has been allocated as follows:
- Credit limit of 18,000 million Baht for organizations with no more than 50 employees and a loan limit of 5 million Baht per case;
- Credit limit of 9,000 million Baht for organizations with 51-200 employees and a loan limit of 10 million Baht per case;
- Credit limit of 3,000 million Baht for organizations with 200 employees and a loan limit of 15 million Baht per case;
As for interest rates on loans, businesses that are interested in taking out a loan and have collateral, interest rates will be at 3 percent per year and fixed for three years. In the case that businesses are interested in taking out a loan but have no securities, guarantee or personal guarantee, interest rates will be at 5 percent per year and fixed for three years. For the requirements of businesses participating in the program, they must register with the Social Security Office and have already paid contributions to the Social Security Fund for not less than three months. The business must also maintain the insured amount of not less than 80% of the insured amount on the date of receiving the loan throughout the 3-year project life so as not to affect the employment of employees in the workplace.
Interested business operators can contact to join the employment promotion loan program at the provincial Social Security Office/Branch, to request a certificate of business status to use in the application for a loan with participating banks. At present, this includes the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (ExIM Bank). However, the Social Security Office is currently processing a memorandum of agreement with other banks to participate in the project as well. The credit program to promote employment project is one that operates in accordance with the Social Security Committee’s regulations regarding the benefits of the Social Security Fund B.E. 2559, whereby funds of not more than 10% of the Social Security Fund can be used for social investment and indirect benefits for employers and insured persons, in addition to supporting working capital and enhancing liquidity in the workplace and maintaining employment conditions. It also promotes the working capital in the domestic economy and the overall economic development of the country as well.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Division of Public Relations
10 April 2020
