Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday approved new borrowing of 614 billion baht ($17.77 billion) for the next fiscal year starting on October 1, and loans for farmers to help the struggling rural economy. The previously announced borrowing plan will include 390 billion baht for the budget deficit and the rest for investment. That is part of a wider debt management plan worth 1.56 trillion baht for the fiscal year.
The cabinet also approved soft loans of 8.6 billion baht to cassava and rice farmers in a bid to lower production costs and increase competitiveness for the world's second-biggest rice exporter after India. "We believe the loans will help farmers cut costs by 20 percent and increase yields by 20 percent," Nattaporn Jatusripitak, an adviser to the commerce minister, told reporters. The loans follow various stimulus measures as the military-government has struggled to revive the economy since seizing power in May 2014 to end months of street protests, with exports and domestic demand still weak.