Federation chairman Sangchai Theerakulwanich urged the government to help SMEs by suspending loan principal and interest payments for at least six months.
"Banks must stop charging interest on the principal part, as SME entrepreneurs are severely affected by the lack of income due to the coronavirus crisis,” said Sangchai.
The lockdown measures announced in 29 provinces have affected operators a lot because their economies together make up more than 70-80 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. He said many businesses suffered from severe liquidity crisis, especially SMEs.
If no additional measures are implemented by the government, there will be many operators in the NPLs list with total debt of THB430 billion, he warned.