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So far, 28.8 million people have already applied for the 5,000 baht/month cash subsidies, under the “Rao Mai Thing Kan” (We Do Not Leave You Behind) scheme.

But only 13.4 million have passed the qualification screening, leaving thousands queuing in lengthy lines as they wait to file complaints.

Of those eligible, 11 million have had the subsidy wired into their bank accounts already, with the remaining 2.4 million to receive their first payment next week, according to Mr. Lawan Saengsanit, spokesman for the Finance Ministry.

In 2018, there were about 21.2 million informal and 17.1 million formal workers. Besides agriculture, with a 92% informality rate, jobs in commerce have the second highest rate of informality at 60%, according to the World Bank.

Starting today, another government’s financial aid of 5,000 baht per farm household for three months, will be distributed through the B…

BANGKOK (NNT) – The Bank of Thailand (BOT) yesterday accepted requests from financial institutions to offer soft loans to SMEs to improve fluidity and preserve jobs.

Eight commercial banks yesterday filed requests to offer a total of 24.2 billion baht in loans to some 17,000 clients.

Bank of Thailand’s Deputy Governor on Financial Institutions Stability, Ronadol Numnonda said today that banks that have filed for the highest amount in soft loans are Bangkok Bank (BBL), Krungthai Bank (KTB), and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).

Soft loans sourced by the BOT will be distributed mostly to individual SMEs, the credit lines of which don’t exceed 20 million baht, accounting for 76 percent of all clients.

Some 80 percent of these businesses are located outside Bangkok, while almost half of them are wholesalers and retailers.

Financial institutions have previously offered assistance packages to…

Thailand is set to lose duty-free access for $1.3 billion in exports to the U.S. market today, six months after Washington warned it would pull back on trade privileges unless the country committed to more labor rights reforms.

Analysts expect the new duties to do little damage directly, however.  

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Oct. 25 Thailand had “yet to take steps to provide internationally recognized worker rights in a number of important areas,” six years after U.S. unions raised the issue. It said the U.S. would restore duties on just under one-third of the $4.4 billion worth of Thai imports eligible for duty-free treatment under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences after six months.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok told VOA last week the cuts to Thailand’s trade privileges would go ahead as planned.

Rights groups have long accused Thailand of profiting off rampant human trafficking and d…