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Thailand: Drop in June borrowing lowers public debt to B6.19tn
Public debt-to-GDP ratio fell by more than 1 percentage point in June due to a drop in borrowing, according to the Public Debt Management Office.
Public debt dropped by 162 billion baht to 6.19 trillion, representing 41.5% at the end of June from 42.9% at the end of May, said Theeraj Athanavanich, a bond market adviser to the PDMO.
Of the total 6.19-trillion-baht debt, 4.76 trillion was borrowed by the government, 967 billion by non-financial institution state enterprises, 441 billion by specialised financial institutions, and 16.4 billion by state agencies.
The government’s direct borrowing at 4.76 trillion baht fell by 152 billion baht from the end of May due largely to a 120-billion decline in advanced borrowing for debt restructuring after some of the Financial Institutions Development Fund’s debt was paid.
Net foreign-denominated debt, however, surged to 440 billion baht at end-June.
Mr Theeraj said that the decline in non-bank state enterprises’ debt as Rubber Authority of Thailand repaid loans worth 1.91 billion baht, while specialised financial institutions’ debt reduced by 4.54 billion as the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has repaid its debt.
State agencies’ debt lowered by 1.08 billion baht to 16.4 billion at the end of June as Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency repaid debt.
Earlier, the PDMO said that it planned to convert US$250 million (8.37 billion baht) in dollar debt to a baht-denominated obligation in coming months to reap the windfall from the baht’s rapid gain, and another 30-40 billion yen-denominated debt (9.09-12.1 billion baht) was under consideration for the currency swap.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/finance/1303367/drop-in-june-borrowing-lowers-public-debt-to-b6-19tn