About 60,000 government officials, including 1,000 currently working at the Finance Ministry, still owe the government for the student loans they took while studying, said Finance Permanent Secretary Somchai Satjapong, in his capacity as chairman of the Student Loan Fund.

He disclosed that many of these 60,000 student loan recipients did not repay the loans because they mistakenly thought that the loans were grants and they need not have to pay back to the government.

However, he said that there are others who intentionally skipped the repayments. To deal with this group of loan recipients, he said he had instructed authorities in 20 ministries and 50 state enterprises to prepare their respective lists about them.

Mr Somchai said this group of loan recipients could notify their respective organizations about their willingness to repay the loans within February 15 after which they will have to sign an MoU within March and the first repayment will commence on September 30.

Those who refuse to pay up will lose their fringe benefits and face a fine of 100 percent of the amount owede t.

It was disclosed that 4.5 million people have taken student loans and, of these, two million of them still owe the government.

Some 60,000 government officials still owe the government student loans they took while studying - Thai PBS English News