Democrats Urge Govt to Provide Interest-Free Loans for Flood Victims

The Democrat Party urged the government to urgently implement measures, offering interest-free loans for the first three to six months to help flood victims, while calling for the promised 100,000-baht disaster fund per household, questioning whether it's action or just election rhetoric. At 10:00 a.m. on October 2, 2026, at Parliament, Democrat Party list-MP Korn Chatikavanij, deputy party leader, together with list-MP Karadee Liao-wairoj, deputy party leader, and economic team member Trirat Sirichantoropas, announced the urgent need for the government to assist small businesses affected by flooding in many areas.

Korn said that the floods have severely impacted numerous small businesses, exacerbating difficulties especially for low-income earners who have been forced to halt their livelihoods for several days, losing income and savings, while their assets and equipment have been damaged. Restarting trade requires capital, but many people cannot access funding on their own. He urged the government to act immediately, especially through the Government Savings Bank, a state financial institution tasked with helping the public. People cannot wait; if they cannot access capital they may fall back into informal debt cycles, a problem seen during the 2011 floods. Today the government has a chance to correct past mistakes.

He added that the government should consider providing loan amounts ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 baht, with a two-year term, where the first three to six months would be interest-free and the remaining interest not exceeding seven percent per year, to give people funds to restart their livelihoods. This would provide a lifeline and enable them to survive.

Implementing such measures would prevent people from falling into predatory informal lending, which he described as the difference between survival and hell.

Karadee said that from field visits, she urged the government to swiftly repair the economic tools of small-scale operators, noting that important community markets and trading zones in many areas have been heavily affected, causing the grassroots economy to stall. To ensure assistance reaches targets systematically, the government does not need to start from scratch because there is already a database of shops registered under the 'Half-Half' and 'Thai Helps Thai Plus' programs, encompassing over 1.09 million businesses. The government should use this database to filter shops in disaster‑hit areas and open a registration channel for loan applications, with the Government Savings Bank as the lender, while also allowing businesses not in the database to apply directly through the bank.

'The government should urgently announce clear relief criteria for flood‑affected households, specifying whether compensation will be uniform per household or based on actual damage levels, including approaches to compensate for damaged cars and motorcycles, which are vital assets and tools for people's livelihoods,' Karadee stated.

Meanwhile, Trirat said the party is calling on the government to honor the pledge made by the Bhumjaithai Party on January 1, 2026, to establish a 'Disaster Fund' that would use AI to detect data and immediately pay 100,000 baht per household when disaster strikes. He said they will monitor closely whether the government will follow through on its promise or if the pledge was merely a campaign slogan.

When asked about relief for migrant workers and those renting accommodation in affected areas, Korn...