BANGKOK: Thailand's central bank has no plans to impose a debt service ratio (DSR) limit this year but it will closely monitor household debt problems, a deputy governor said on Thursday.
Thailand's household debt is among the highest in Asia and has been a major concern for policymakers and a key risk to the slowing economy.
If the debt situation becomes more fragile, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) may consider appropriate measures to address it, Ronadol Numnonda said in a statement.
"After the central bank issued measures to tackle household debt problems and there were reports that it might impose a DSR limit, the BOT would like to clarify that it has no plans to introduce such a measure this year," he said.
The BOT has worked with commercial banks to standardise DSR calculation, and banks have agreed with it and are expected to report their DRS data to the BOT by the fourth quarter, Ronadol said. Previously, banks had different DRS calculations.
The move is meant to push banks to lend responsibly and ensure that borrowers are not over extended, he said, without giving details.
Thai PBS World reported on Sunday that commercial banks had recently agreed, in principle, with the BOT to set lending guidelines by limiting a borrower's DSR to 70%, for those earning up to 30,000 baht ($980.39) a month, though details have not been finalised yet.
Thai households are heavily indebted, with debt levels equivalent to 78.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of March, up from 53.5% in early 2009, driven by easy lending.
On average, a borrower's overall debt jumped by 47% over the past 10 years, to 552,499 baht ($18,055) in 2018, the BOT said.
In an attempt to tackle elevated household debt, the central bank has tightened housing loans, regulated loans using cars as collateral and curbed credit cards and personal loans.
However, the BOT recently relaxed mortgage lending rules slightly to help some borrowers hit by the tighter regulations introduced in April, and after developers' complaints about slower business as domestic activity has softened
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy grew just 2.3% in the second quarter, the weakest annual pace in nearly five years.
The BOT has said it will lower its 2019 growth forecast of 3.3% as growth is slowing amid escalating trade protectionism. Last year's growth was 4.1%. It will review its economic forecasts at the next monetary policy meeting on Sept. 25.
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