Thai Home Loan Business Expected To Grow 8.5 Per Cent Next Year

By Piyarat Nisangkard BANGKOK (Thailand), Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Thailand's housing loan business is expected to expand 6.0-8.0 per cent this year, and grow by 8.5 per cent next year to US$89.11 billion (2.9 trillion baht), according to Kasikornbank. (US$1 = 32.54 baht) Chatchai Payhanaveechai, the bank's Executive Vice President, said the growth will be mobilised by investments in sky train routes across Bangkok and its outskirts as well as infrastructure projects and the incoming Asean Economic Community. He also said that the export sector next year will boost the country's growth to 2.0-4.5 per cent, compared with the 0.3 per cent projected growth this year. Meanwhile, home loans this year are likely to grow by 6.0-8.0 per cent to 2.7 trillion baht, lower than the target due to the impact from the overall economic situation. He said home loans provided by Kasikornbank in the third quarter of this year stood at 35 billion baht, with the bank aiming to see an additional 12 billion baht in the fourth quarter. This would bring the total to 47 billion baht, which translates to a 6.0-7.0 per cent increase, but still lower than its target of 49 billion baht. He said in the early part of this year Thailand faced an uncertain political situation, high cost of living and rising household debt which affected the property industry. Property developers are just waiting to launch new projects amid a slowdown in real estate transactions, he said, adding household debt is expected to rise further to 85 per cent of GDP this year from 82 per cent last year. --BERNAMA