Thailand

More than a decade after its establishment, the Small Industry Finance Corporation has finally achieved its goal and upgraded itself to become a bank for small and medium-sized enterprises.

BankThai plans to aggressively expand services to Japanese companies and clients operating in Thailand in 2003, according to Duangphorn Sucharittanuwat, senior executive vice-president.

One Asset Management executives insist that they have managed the state-sponsored SME Venture Capital Fund with full professionalism, and that delays in closing deals were due in part to the structural difficulties of many of the small and medium-

Local manufacturers are concerned about oil price fluctuations and global economic uncertainty, according to the first Thai Industries Sentiment Index released by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

By speeding up approvals over the next six weeks, the Small Industry Finance Corporation (SIFC) expects to reach its lending target of 18 billion baht this year.

The managers of a state venture capital fund for small business have failed in their mission and should be dismissed, according to the Institute for Small and Medium Enterprise Development (Ismed).

Three state lending agencies will combine their efforts to extend soft loans of at least 10 billion baht to people at grassroots level next year.

A new entrepreneurs' promotion board will be formed as part of the government's ambitious plan to create 50,000 new businesses within the next two years.

Helping small and medium-sized enterprises move up the value chain and improve their competitiveness has been a longstanding policy to jump-start the economy.

The Market for Alternative Investment and the SME Promotion Office will hold a daylong seminar today in Bangkok to promote funding options for small and medium-sized enterprises.