❓ Claim checked: Pheu Thai Party proposes a debt-clearing policy: “Owe 200,000 pay only 20,000”
❌ Fact-check result: Incomplete information, leading to misunderstanding of the Pheu Thai Party’s policy
📝 Summary of the content:
On 21 December 2025, several Facebook and X users shared an image of Julapun Amornvivat, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, with overlaid text stating: “Interested? Owe 200,000, pay only 20,000 — Pheu Thai debt-clearing policy.”
Some pages added captions such as: “…100% debt, pay only 10%; the rest will be paid by the government.”
🔎 Cofact’s verification:
On 16 December, the Pheu Thai Party held an event titled “Overhauling Thailand: Pheu Thai Can Do It”, where the party’s three prime ministerial candidates — Julapun Amornvivat, Suriya Jungrungruangkit, and Yodchanan Wongsawat — presented their visions.
Julapun stated that if Pheu Thai forms the government, it will continue its debt-clearing policy. One proposed measure is debt relief for people with non-performing loans (NPLs) not exceeding 200,000 baht.
“Would it be good if a Pheu Thai government allowed people with NPLs of no more than 200,000 baht to pay only 10 percent and have their debt cleared?” Julapun said.
Julapun Amornvivat, party leader and one of Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidates, presenting his vision at the event “Overhauling Thailand: Pheu Thai Can Do It” on 16 December 2025 (Image: Pheu Thai Party YouTube).
Cofact checked with members of the Pheu Thai Party’s policy communications team and received the following clarifications:
- The proposed debt-clearing measure applies only to NPL debtors, defined as borrowers who have failed to pay principal and interest for more than three installments past the due date, or who have overdue interest payments for more than three months, and whose ability to repay the principal is uncertain.
- Eligible individuals must have NPL debt not exceeding 200,000 baht.
- Under this measure, debtors are required to pay 10 percent of the outstanding debt, and the government will “close out” the remaining balance. Therefore, for debts below 200,000 baht, the payment would be less than 20,000 baht.
Based on Julapun’s statement and the explanation from the Pheu Thai Party’s policy communications team, the widely shared message “Owe 200,000, pay 20,000” is a truncated version of the party’s NPL debt relief policy. This omission leads to the misunderstanding that the policy applies to all debtors without limitation. Such misrepresentation may result in criticism based on incorrect information or create unrealistic expectations, potentially affecting voters’ decision-making.
Note: This political fact-checking report is part of the project “Information Integrity Towards Fact-Free Fair Elections in Thailand”, jointly conducted by Cofact, Thai PBS Verify, and Thammasat University, with support from the German Embassy in Thailand.
