Dr. Rak Vorrakitpokatorn, President of Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand), revealed that the Cabinet meeting on August 24, 2021 passed a resolution approving the Specialized Financial Institution Development Fund to raise capital by 4,198 million baht for EXIM Thailand based on the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the first time in 12 years since the previous capital increase in 2009. This recapitalization will make up EXIM Thailand's total capital from 12,800 million baht at present to 16,998 million baht, which will be used to fund its business operations to support Thai entrepreneurs to a greater extent.
EXIM Thailand President said that this capital increase represents the injection of funds for the Bank to "reboot, restructure, rebalance" Thai entrepreneurs at all levels to regain strength and resume their business operations once again, and for the Bank to serve as a key mechanism in driving Thai economic recovery. EXIM Thailand's total outstanding loans are expected to grow by 11% in average per year for the next 5 years to hit 212,730 million baht in 2025 from total outstanding loans as of the end of July 2021 of 140,600 million baht under the following financial services:
1) Financial Services for National Development aiming to support investment particularly in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), covering infrastructure projects and industrial sectors, i.e. those in the targeted industries (S-curve group and bio-circular-green economy) in particular, in response to the government policy and current global trends. This will help uplift the country's competitiveness through production and export of goods/services with higher value added throughout the supply chains.
2) Financial Services for Thai Export and Investment Overseas, especially CLMV and new frontier markets. These are the markets where EXIM Thailand has expertise and plays as a lead bank bringing Thai investors to penetrate with confidence equipped by the Bank's financial facilities in diverse forms, e.g., loan, export credit insurance and other services. This will boost Thai SMEs' export of related goods/services according to the investment-induced trade model together with import of raw materials and technologies required for upgrading local industrial sectors.
3) Financial Services for Efficiency Enhancement of SMEs' Production and Export to enable SMEs to access source of funds for their improvement of production efficiency and expansion of export, take a key role in adding value to Thailand's international trade and investment, and render both financial and non-financial services to relieve the hardship of SMEs amid the COVID-19 pandemic so that they can sustain or even expand their businesses to potential markets.
"The capital increase this time will keep EXIM Thailand's BIS ratio at a sound level and strengthen our financial status. This will in turn make us better positioned to expand our credit lending and give greater assistances to entrepreneurs in line with our commitment to move toward being Thailand Development Bank, which aims to 'reboot' industries in crisis or businesses in critical conditions, 'restructure' new industries and businesses of export and investment for their strengthened supply chain and 'rebalance' competitive advantages of Thai entrepreneurs in the global market in a sustainable manner with an ultimate goal to serve as a key mechanism of Thai government in driving forward Thailand's sustainable development," added Dr. Rak.