Several foreign institutions propose lending to Thailand

BANGKOK, January 11 (TNA) - Several foreign financial institutions have become keen to offer lending to Thailand, which is carrying out many infrastructure mega-projects that will require procurement from overseas, including the double-rail track and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority’s natural gas for vehicles project. Kritsada Uthayanin, director-general of Public Debt Management Office, said negotiations are still continuing and the Thai government may take the offer if conditions are favorable. Although it is likely the government will seek domestic borrowing as a priority as there is plenty of liquidity in the market and an interest rate is still low, state-run offices could still borrow money from overseas if terms and conditions are better than the local institutions. The Thai baht could exchange the American dollar through the Bank of Thailand without affecting the country’s economy. Currently, the government borrows money from overseas at only 6 per cent of the total public debt which amounted over 5.6 trillion baht which is still very low. Management of public debt this year will also use the innovative bond switching instrument system in issuing bonds which would enable bonds to spread to other batches. The instrument was last used in September 2014 before several bonds worth a combined 150 billion baht with the maturity in May this year. This helped lower the cost for the government by more than 5 billion baht. (TNA)