NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The cabinet yesterday approved a plan by Thailand Post to set up a subsidiary to provide microfinance services to low-income earners, using its nationwide post offices as a channel.

Information and Communications Technology Minister Juti Krairiksh said that the subsidiary would have initial registered capital of 50 million baht and would extend loans as small as 10,000 baht each.

He said that there are about 18 million low-income earners in the country who still have no access to loan sources and Thailand Post’s new subsidiary would become their alternative.

Mr Juti said that the funds to be used for the microfinancing would come from Thailand Post’s own profit and loans from the Government Savings Bank (GSB).