“Akniti” opens the way for the Student Loan Fund (SLF) to request a 1.2 billion baht mid-year budget in 2026 to assist student loans, preparing to submit it to the Cabinet next week for urgent approval.
On 25 September 2026, Mr. Akniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, convened a meeting with the Budget Bureau executives to discuss using the remaining 2026 mid-year budget. This is to enable the Student Loan Fund (SLF) to manage and provide loans to students, following the SLF board’s resolution to request a 1.2 billion baht mid-year budget for student loan management.
Mr. Winij Wisesuwanphumi, Director of the Fiscal Policy Office and SLF Board Chairman, said the SLF board meeting on 24 September approved expanding the loan quota by 14,004 additional students to fully meet the loan requests. They also agreed to urgently request the 1.2 billion baht mid-year budget within September to ensure timely and sufficient assistance, with plans to submit it for Cabinet approval soon.
The increase of 14,004 students needing loans this year brings the total loan recipients to 790,000, the highest number ever provided by the SLF. Additionally, the board assigned the fund to accelerate debt repayments from 400,000 to 500,000 existing students with relatively small outstanding debts to clear arrears, which would enhance the fund’s liquidity by about 1.29 billion baht.
Mr. Winij explained that among 500,000 employed student borrowers who still owe the SLF small amounts, some debts are only a few hundred baht. However, since the SLF’s salary deduction system only covers debts incurred after employment, earlier debts remain unpaid, leaving small residual balances unknown to some borrowers. Clearing these debts would reduce the number of borrowers from 2.1 million to about 1.6 million and return approximately 1.29 billion baht to the fund.