How much is needed to buy Thai household debt?

The Nation does a deep dive into the NESDC’s data to find out the level of debt and the types of loans that remain unpaid

The notion of buying people’s debt to ease Thailand’s financial burden has been a hot topic of conversation since former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra raised the possibility earlier this week.

Speaking at Phitsanulok University on Monday, Thaksin suggested buying all the people's debts from the banking system and allowing them to gradually pay it off. The move would also remove borrowers’ names from the Credit Bureau, allowing them to be free of debt and start afresh.

Thaksin, who is the father of Prime Minister Paetongtarn, insisted that this plan would not require any government funds as private investors would be purchasing the debts.

The Nation decided to look at the statistics of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) to explore how much money would be needed to buy the Thai people’s outstanding debts.

The NESDC’s Thai Social Conditions Report for the third quarter of 2024 revealed that the country’s household debt stood at 16.34 trillion baht. Of this, 1.16 trillion baht are in non-performing loans (NPLs), or accounts with defaults of more than 90 days.

Of all the household debt, 34.3% or 5.6 trillion baht is from housing loans, 28% or 4.6 trillion baht from personal loans, 17.7% or 2.9 trillion baht from business loans, 10.2% or 1.7 trillion baht from auto loans, and 9.8% or 1.6 trillion baht from other loans.

The ratio of NPLs in each type of loan is as follows:


Housing loan: 4.58%
Auto loan: 10.33%
Credit card loan: 12.58%
Personal loan: 10.77%
Agricultural loan: 5.9%
Commercial loan: 12.25%
Other loans: 19.79%


On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said that a new asset management company (AMC) may be established in collaboration with banks to purchase people’s debts.

Pichai explained that commercial banks typically manage NPLs through debt restructuring. However, over time, banks may find it unfeasible to continue restructuring these loans.

In such cases, a joint effort to establish an AMC would be a more viable solution, he said.

(2025/03/19-00:00)