{"id":387629,"date":"2026-04-19T19:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387629\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T19:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:11:13","slug":"thais-face-cash-strain-amid-high-debt-bloomberg-analyst-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387629\/","title":{"rendered":"Thais face cash strain amid high debt, Bloomberg analyst warns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bangkok Bank stands out for its corporate-heavy loan portfolio, which accounts for roughly 49% of total lending, alongside robust provisioning coverage. This provides a cushion against deteriorating asset quality, with its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio expected to stabilise at around 3%.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Krung Thai Bank benefits from a strong sovereign-linked loan book and lower exposure to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are typically more vulnerable during economic downturns. A significant portion of its retail lending is extended to government employees with stable incomes, helping to contain risk. Its credit costs are projected to remain manageable at around 2.9%.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, lenders such as Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank may face higher credit costs due to greater exposure to more vulnerable borrower segments, including SMEs and unsecured retail loans.<\/p>\n<p>Banks have already begun tightening lending standards, particularly for higher-risk segments, reflecting a more cautious approach to underwriting amid rising uncertainty. However, Kwok noted that financial institutions are still expected to play a supportive role in government efforts to assist vulnerable borrowers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBanks will remain cautious in their lending, but they will also continue to support targeted relief measures to help those most affected by economic pressures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As external risks remain elevated and domestic recovery continues at a modest pace, the interplay between household debt, rising costs, and banking sector resilience will remain a key factor shaping Thailand\u2019s economic outlook in the coming quarters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bangkok Bank stands out for its corporate-heavy loan portfolio, which accounts for roughly 49% of total lending, alongside&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[902,138,219,22018,18060,111,139,69,4327],"class_list":{"0":"post-387629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bloomberg","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-household-debt","12":"tag-loan","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-thailand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}