PUBLISHED : 31 May 2025 at 03:30

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The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is offering 30 billion baht in soft loans to employers in the social security system to maintain employment.

According to Paisan Hongtong, senior executive vice-president of BAAC, the bank signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Social Security Office (SSO) to cooperate on “Employment Promotion Loan Project, Phase 3 [2025–2026]”.

The project supports employers registered with the SSO that have contributed to the Social Security Fund for a minimum of 12 consecutive months and have maintained at least 80% of their insured workforce since establishment.

These employers have access to low-interest funding to invest in business expansion, promote employment, support working capital, increase productivity, and enhance liquidity in a continuous manner.

The total loan facility under the programme is 30 billion baht. The interest rate starts at a maximum of 2.35% per year (fixed for three years) for loans secured with collateral.

Employers can apply for the loans starting in July this year, running until Dec 30, 2026, or until the funds have been fully disbursed.

Employers can apply through participating banks, including the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Krungthai Bank, Bangkok Bank, UOB and Thai Credit Bank.

According to data from the Fiscal Policy Office, the cumulative unemployment rate as of March this year was 0.9% of the total labour force. The unemployment rate last year tallied 1%.

For employees under Section 33 of the Social Security Act, which are those in the mandatory social security system, the cumulative unemployment rate as of April this year was 1.96% of this labour force, rising from 1.81% last year.

According to the National Economic and Social Development Council, the national labour force in 2024 was 40.4 million people.

As of February 2025, the number of insured workers under Section 33 was 12.1 million.