Thai banks' bad loans rise to 2.9% in Q1

Published Tue, May 20, 2025 · 04:21 PM

Thai banks’ non-performing loans rose to 2.90 per cent of outstanding loans at the end of March from 2.78 per cent at the end of December, the central bank said on Tuesday (May 20).

Bank lending dropped 1.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 from a year earlier, after an annual fall of 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement.

The banking system remained strong with high capital funds, reserves and liquidity, the central bank said.

Lending is expected to continue to decline in the second quarter as the export sector could be impacted by US tariffs, assistant governor Suwannee Jatsadasak told a press conference, and she said interest rate cuts have not boosted lending.

The ratio of household debt to gross domestic product probably dropped to below 88 per cent at the end of March from 88.4 per cent at the end of December, Suwannee said. Thailand’s ratio is among the highest in Asia.

She said the expected drop in the household debt ratio was due to 3.1 per cent annual growth in the first quarter and contracting consumer lending. REUTERS

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