The Small Industry Finance Corporation (SIFC) is stepping up its efforts to lend 30bn baht this year, despite slipping below target in the first two months.
This year's target contrasts with last year's lending of 6.1bn baht against a target of 7.5bn.
The agency was now more than doubling its staff and streamlining its credit application process, said Pongsak Chewcharat, the senior executive vice-president.
In January and February this year, the SIFC's lending totalled 1.6bn baht, against a target of 2bn baht. Its profit for the period was 36.9m baht. Lending is projected to increase sharply later in the year.
Mr Pongsak, the SIFC's acting president, said that to meet its target, the agency needed to increase its staff to 685 from 300. As well, it needed to make its loan application approval process more efficient, reducing the average approval period to 30 days per application from 40 days.
