After sixteen quarters of shrinking SME credit, the Bank of Thailand has set out a plan built on free bureau checks, a central credit portal, permanent guarantees and alternative data.
At the Thailand Economic Outlook 2027 forum on 8 October 2026, Bank of Thailand Governor Vitai Ratanakorn set a goal of 100 billion baht of new SME lending a year. The aim is to reverse sixteen consecutive quarters in which credit to SMEs has contracted.
The numbers behind the plan are stark. The SME non-performing loan ratio is 9.5%, against about 2% for large corporates. Only 21% of the best-performing 30% of SMEs can get formal credit, and 34% of SMEs rely on friends or informal lenders.
The plan has four parts. Borrowers will be able to check their own credit bureau record free of charge twice a year, under a rule expected within two to three months. A central digital credit portal is due in December 2026. The Credit Boost guarantee scheme becomes permanent, with a five-year framework by early 2027, funded through bank contributions to the Financial Institutions Development Fund. An alternative data exchange using NDID and ITMX, aimed at freelancers and online sellers, is expected in mid-to-late 2027.
For lenders, the significance is in the plumbing. A shared portal and a permanent guarantee scheme mean SME applications will increasingly arrive through a standard channel with a guarantee attached, and the lender's process has to accept them in that shape. Free bureau checks mean borrowers will see their own records and dispute errors more often, so the evidence behind each decision needs to be retrievable.
Commentary in Thai media notes the open question: the plan works only if banks expand net lending rather than refinance existing borrowers. The same tension exists in every market where guarantees are used to restart SME credit.
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