Thailand Puts Small-Business AI and Financial Crime on IMF–World Bank Agenda

Thailand is using this week’s IMF–World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok to make a case for applying artificial intelligence to small businesses. Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said the World Bank had highlighted a Thai AI assistant for merchants as an example of technology that could help them manage sales and gain access to finance, according to Kaohoon.

The assistant is embedded in a mobile app merchants already use to access government support, Khaosod reported. It helps users manage stock and calculate profits. Khaosod said nearly one million small merchants use it, citing Ekniti’s remarks at a World Bank discussion on October 12. With merchants’ consent, transaction records could also help lenders assess businesses that lack collateral or a formal credit history, the report said. Kaohoon reported Ekniti’s account that sales records could support lending decisions through Thai banks.

The proposed use of sales data addresses a specific financing question: how a lender assesses a shop whose trading activity is visible in an app but whose owner cannot offer conventional collateral. Access to credit would still depend on lenders’ decisions; neither report establishes how many loans have been approved using the data. The World Bank has separately identified gaps in digital skills, data governance and coordination between institutions as constraints on Thailand’s wider use of AI.

Ekniti also said Thailand wants AI-related investment to create training and higher-income opportunities for local workers, rather than measuring it solely by the amount invested, Kaohoon reported. Khaosod reported that the government’s Skill Bridge programme is intended to connect investors with educational institutions to train workers for employers’ needs. InsideASEAN has reported on the World Bank’s higher 2026 growth forecast for Thailand, which it linked partly to AI-related exports.

Financial crime was another subject of Ekniti’s meetings. He said Thai officials had described efforts to connect information held by the police, securities regulator, central bank and finance ministry to trace illicit financial flows, according to Kaohoon. He also said Thailand was working with the IMF on a proposed framework for international cooperation against scams and financial crime. Those accounts describe Thailand’s proposals and Ekniti’s characterisation of the discussions; they do not establish that an international standard has been adopted.