If everything goes as planned, the credit cards for farmers scheme will be launched in May next year, Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives president Luck Wajananawat said on Wednesday.
Mr Luck said one million credit cards will be distributed to farmers in five pilot provinces: Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Chiang Mai, Udon Thani and Lop Buri in May, before next year's rice growing season.
The farmer would be able to use this credit card for the purchase of rice seed, chemical fertilisers and pesticides up to 70 per cent of his crop's estimated value, he added.
The promise of credit cards for farmers was part of election campaign by the Pheu Thai Party of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul
As for measures to help flood-hit manufacturers, Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul said the Board of Investment will certainly offer corporate income tax exemption to them.
He said the board of directors of the BoI will meet before the end of the year to consider the extent of the tax exemption. The meeting will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong.
Mr Wannarat said that measures to help the flooded factories will definitely be in place soon because the government wants to restore the confidence of investors and encourage more investment.
Previously, the BoI had approved an exemption of import tax on imported machinery and raw materials for flooded manufacturers, he said.
He said the flooded Saharat Nakhon, Bang Pa In and Bang Wa (Hi-Tech) industrial estates, Rojana and Factory Land industrial zones, Nava Nakhon and Bang Kadi were now dried out.
At least 115 manufacturers based in these industrial sites had already restarted production lines. More plants would come online early next year and all factories were expected to be operating again in the second quarter of next year.
The meeting of BoI board last month decided not to approve investment promotion measures to help rehabilitate the flooded plants because it wanted the BoI and Revenue Department to come up details on how many manufacturers were affected and how much tax revenue the government would lose if additional privileges to be offered for investors, according to Mr Wannarat.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/270782/credit-cards-for-farmers-in-may
