Bangkok, The Cabinet has given the green light to state banks to reduce the rate of money sent to the fund from 0.25 percent per year to 0.125 percent per year of the deposit amount. Mr. Pornchai Thiravet, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, revealed that the Cabinet has approved an extension of the period for reducing the rate of money sent to the Specialized Financial Institutions Development Fund (the State Bank Fund), namely the Government Savings Bank, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Government Housing Bank, and the Islamic Bank of Thailand, by reducing it by half from 0.25 percent per year to 0.125 percent per year of the deposit amount. This is the fifth consecutive year of adjustments after the COVID-19 situation to help reduce costs for specialized financial institutions, through providing assistance and alleviating the hardship of debtors of specialized financial institutions, especially vulnerable debtors, grassroo ts economic groups, and informal debtors, to give debtors more opportunities to recover and return to normal debt repayment. It is expected that approximately 5.04 million debtors will benefit from the assistance during January - December 2024, with a total credit line of 1.18 trillion baht. The Ministry of Finance and specialized financial institutions have prioritized providing assistance and resolving debt problems for debtors in order to improve the quality of life of debtors and enhance the grassroots economy. Source: Thai News Agency