BANGKOK: Thai commercial banks could see their lending increase at a slower-than-expected rate of 2-3 percent this year, down from the 3-4 percent rise previously projected, due mainly to the slow economic recovery, a senior central bank official said on Thursday. Last year, loans grew 4.3 percent.
Bank lending rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, its weakest pace in six years, due in part to big corporate loan repayment, Don Nakornthab, senior director at the Bank of Thailand, told a media briefing. Loans rose 3.3 percent in the second quarter on-year.
