Thai loan sharks told to register with gov't or be penalized

Thai Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered all loan sharks throughout the country to register for their otherwise illegal money business.

The premier insisted that the loan sharks, who have usually overcharged interest rates for loans provided to their clients, particularly the low-income earners, register with the authorities so that their money business will come under sccutiny and their interest rates will be lowered in favor of the debtors.

"There will be no more illegal loan sharks in this country. They are legally bound to register while all their clients are yet to be brought into the (lending) system," said Prayut.

In some cases, the loan sharks' interest rates could probably be increased to as much as 60 percent monthly to the woes of the debtors.

Prayut commented that those loan sharks who might fail to register will certainly be arrested and faced with stringent legal action.

He said the debtors, most of whom being low-income earners, are yet to be brought into the legal financial and banking systems, as opposed to the unlawful loan sharks, so that their debts will finally be settled with low interest rates.

The government-run Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and Government Savings Bank will continue to offer low-interest loans to the low-income earners, including the current clients of the loan sharks.

Given the fact that millions of low-income earners were said to have become clients of the loan sharks nationwide, government measures were already put on national agenda to help them out, according to the premier. Endit