Chiang Mai Residents Barely Eke Out A Living

[george]

Chiang Mai residents barely eke out a living

CHIANG MAI: -- Sky-high oil prices and increasing household expenses are driving many Chiang Mai residents further into debt, according to Wachara Tantranonda, president of the Chiang Mai–Lamphun Real Estate Association.

Although numerous construction projects and large-scale investments are boding well for the city’s overall economic outlook, most of the various large projects directly benefit outside investors only, while locals generally scrape by as labourers or service sectors workers, he said.

An area of special economic concern is that numerous low-wage earners in Chiang Mai and the North have defaulted on bank loans. Others in financial binds have resorted to tapping the services of thriving loan sharks who charge exorbitant interest rates, which often force debtors into further spirals of financial liability.

He suggested that Bank of Thailand officials try to neutralise usurers to prevent local wage earners and farmers from becoming permanent victims to loan-sharking moneylenders preying on their financial woes.

The overall savings of Chiang Mai’s residents stand at some Bt100 billion, while the aggregate savings of people in the North is three times that sum. People in the region owe an estimated Bt22 billion in unpaid debt.

--The Nation 2005-09-09