KTB Projects Flat Corporate Loan and Retail Growth
BY BEN MYERS


Bangkok, Thailand - December 24, 2015: CDC shopping mall at night, celebrating Christmas Eve and New Year 2016 near Ramindra Road in Bangkok, Thailand

BANGKOK: -- Vorapak Tanyawong, president of Krungthai Bank, predicts that corporate loan and retail growth will be limited in the coming year.

As a result, the bank does not have plans to aggressively pursue either of these sectors in 2016 as prospects have yet to improve. He did note that lending portfolios for corporate banking and retail will likely be flat in 2016.

KTB is expected to grow in line with Thailand’s GDP in 2016, compared to its target of 1.5 times higher than the Kingdom’s GDP growth.

In 2015, NPLs (non-performing loans) reached Bt11 billion, excluding Sahaviriya Steel Industries’ one-time NPL. Vorapak was pleased with the performance of these loans as they were lower than other major banks.

Full story: http://ethailand.com/business-news/ktb-projects-flat-corporate-loan-and-retail-growth/1102/

-- eThailand 2015-12-29

Limited corporate loan and retail growth will suppress growth in domestic consumption. With growth of exports at best recovering to 2014 levels, all that remains to drive GDP growth are tourism and government stimulus spending.

But the dilemna for government spending is that Prayut will continue populist policies and has introduced massive tax cuts, credits, deductions and exemptions effective for 2016 with few new sources for increased revenue collection such as the recent one-time sale of telecommunication licenses. Essentially, Thailand must rely almost entirely on tourism to drive its predicted 4-5% GDP growth rate for 2016.

We have seen with the shrine bombing just how sensitive tourism can be to factors beyond government planning and control. And recent Government actions to make tourism more compliant with Thai culture, tradition and religion may further denegrate Thailand's ability to attract a diversity of tourists necessary for industry growth.

2016 will be a defining year for Prayut's social and economic policies - and the outlook doesn't look good for Thais.