Popularity contest: From village funds to people’s banks

By The Nation

 

 

Proposed ‘people’s financial institutions’ could be a boon to the rural and the poor, even if they are an election ploy

 

In a last-ditch effort to win more support from rural people and other low-income voters in the coming general election, the Prayut government has expedited legislation to establish “people’s banks” at the tambon level to provide alternative financial services.

 

The bill, which is expected to be enacted by the National Legislative Assembly ahead of the national polls scheduled for late February, more than 7,000 so-called “people’s financial institutions” will be established. 

 

They will also serve as a major upgrade for the 70,000-plus village funds, which will be converted into people’s banks in their respective geographic areas. 

 

On average, a people’s bank will consist of about 10 village funds per tambon. 

 

Dr Kobsak Phutakoon, the outgoing PM’s Office minister, touted the people’s banks as a new way to give low-income people access to decent banking and loan services. For decades, the poor in both the urban and rural areas have relied on unregistered moneylenders to obtain quick loans, often at exorbitant interest rates. 

 

Meanwhile villages collectively have found it difficult to raise funds for community projects once the village funds set up in the early 2000s ran out of money.

 

In fact, the village funds represented a widely popular initiative the Thaksin Shinawatra government, which gave each of the 

villages an initial allocation of Bt1 million. 

 

The village funds were intended as a type of revolving credit facility for small community projects. However, many of them became ineffective after some village leaders turned them into personal loan facilities.

 

Yet a significant number of these funds remain successful to this day and hold the potential to be successfully upgraded as the proposed peoples’ banks.

 

According to the proposed legislation, in the initial stage, Government Savings Bank (GSB) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) will step in to help manage each of the people’s banks. 

 

The proposed people’s banks can also serve banking agents for state-owned commercial banks to receive deposits from villagers and provide them with loans, in addition to payment and other financial services.

 

The bill requires existing community funds, including the village funds, which have a combined deposit base topping Bt200 billion, to become people’s banks over a five-year period.

 

In this context, both the state-owned GSB and BAAC, which have a large number of branches in the rural areas, aim to extend their services via the people’s banks to help establish the new operators nationally.

 

However, given the timing of this bill, it appears as if the Prayut government has resorted to another all-out effort to woo the voters in hopes of returning to power via the upcoming election, having run the country as an non-elected administration for four years.

 

Another pet project of the outgoing government is the Eastern Economic Corridor mega-investment programme, which has been touted in Thailand and abroad as a major engine of new economic growth. 

 

It too is designed to win votes, and it is also expected to build international confidence ahead of the general election.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30358656

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-16

"...However, given the timing of this bill, it appears as if the Prayut government has resorted to another all-out effort to woo the voters in hopes of returning to power via the upcoming election, having run the country as an non-elected administration for four years..."

 

A better way to put this would be to say that the Prayut Coup government has resorted to another all-out effort to flood local village economies with cash in order to buy votes, despite claiming that was bad when the 'Reds' implemented village-level programs. And, sure as sh*t, after an election those funds will magically disappear. Even sadder, village-level programs can actually do a lot of good, if they were introduced in the years before an election and were specifically designed for income-generation and anti-poverty outcomes.

 

Didn't the Junta 'outlaw' 'populist' programs? Wasn't that their "reason" for a coup? Where are all those who whined and whinged when the 'Reds' had similar programs; your silence is deafening. 

 

Weapons-grade cynicism and hypocrisy.

 

Truly world-class, weapons-grade, cynicism and hypocrisy.

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 20187 yr by Samui Bodoh

1 hour ago, webfact said:

after some village leaders turned them into personal loan facilities.

they  just cant help them greedy  little selves can  they

2 hours ago, webfact said:

the Prayut government has expedited legislation to establish “people’s banks” at the tambon level to provide alternative financial services.

thais cannot govern nor regulate nor discipline themselves; this will be a disaster

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the Prayut government has expedited legislation to establish “people’s banks” at the tambon level to provide alternative financial services.

Historically in Thailand it seems that anything attached to the label "people's" is antithesis to the benefit of the "people." Case in point is the 2017 "people's" Constitution.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

both the state-owned GSB and BAAC

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Government Savings Bank (GSB) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) will step in to help manage each of the people’s banks. 

Which gives Prayut the opportunity to appoint management of both banks with pro-military that will outlast the next elected government - essentially furthering the Deep State control of the nation.

12 hours ago, kannot said:

they  just cant help them greedy  little selves can  they

The nature of the beast....