Excise Tax Reduction on Jet Fuel and Measures to Help Tourism and SME Operators - The Government Public Relation Department





Excise Tax Reduction on Jet Fuel and Measures to Help Tourism and SME Operators 6 November 2020 (Readers 34)

The Cabinet on 3 November 2020 approved the reduction of the excise tax on jet fuel from 4.726 baht to 0.20 baht per liter. It also approved more measures to help tourism-related businesses and SME operators. The excise tax reduction on jet fuel, effective after 24.00 hr on 3 November 2020 and in effect until 30 April 2021, aims to reduce production costs for airline operators, so that they will be able to cut air fares for passengers. This will help boost the tourism industry and encourage people to travel more in the country. As for measures to help tourism-related businesses and SMEs, the Government Savings Bank (GSB) will raise the ceiling of government soft loans from 20 million baht to 100 million baht, which financial institutions may extend to each tourism business operator. More SME operators will be eligible for loan guarantees, worth 57 billion baht, provided by the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, under the Portfolio Guarantee Scheme Phase 8 (PGS 8) soft loan plus. The guarantee period is eight years, with an annual rate of 1.75 percent. GSB will extend the period for accepting applications for its five-billion-baht soft loan project for micro businesses engaged in tourism businesses and supply chains until 30 June 2021. Under this project, the annual interest rate is 3.99 percent, and the repayment period is five years. The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand will extend the period for accepting applications for its 10-billion-baht extra cash loan scheme until 30 June 2021.