The Thai cabinet approved a 270 billion baht (U.S. $7.7 billion) loan scheme to help stimulate economic growth on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
The Finance Ministry plans to borrow 200 billion baht (U.S. $5.7 billion) from domestic banks as short-term loan to ease liquidity of state enterprises. The remaining 70 billion (U.S. $2 billion) will be borrowed from overseas, most likely the World Bank, Asian Development Bank or the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
The overseas funds will be invested primarily into building infrastructure. The substantial borrowing will increase the public debt to 3.9 trillion baht (U.S. $111.5 billion,) approximately 41 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) according to Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, in The Bangkok Post.
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