Bangkok: The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) has announced a comprehensive action plan for 2026, aiming to enhance the SME ecosystem through 143 projects backed by a budget of over 8.2 billion baht. The initiative involves collaboration with 11 ministries and 49 agencies, focusing on improving liquidity, enhancing capabilities, and expanding Thai businesses into new international markets, aligning with the government's sustainability goals for Thai SMEs.
According to Thai News Agency, Dr. Panita Chinawat, Acting Director of OSMEP, highlighted that the 2026 plan is crafted to ensure the survival, continuity, and growth of SMEs. OSMEP coordinates the regular budgets from various agencies with funds from the SME Promotion Fund to provide consistent and targeted assistance to entrepreneurs.
The SME Promotion Action Plan for 2026 is structured into three main plans, with 143 projects and a budget of 8,281.93 million baht. These include a plan to bolster the competitiveness of medium and small-sized SMEs with a budget of 4,259.59 million baht covering 99 projects, a plan to drive soft power policies with a budget of 3,928.40 million baht comprising 35 projects, and other programs to promote SMEs with a budget of 212.27 million baht covering 9 projects.
A notable initiative is to create new opportunities for SMEs by expanding the government procurement market, Thai SME-GP, valued at over 1.8 trillion baht annually. This includes adjusting measures to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs. OSMEP plans to increase competitive advantage measures and strengthen verification mechanisms to prevent fraudulent claims by larger businesses, ensuring fair competition.
For the first time, OSMEP is set to expand the Thai SME-GP concept to the procurement of large private sector companies, allowing Thai SMEs to enter the supply chains of major corporations in Thailand. OSMEP aims to upgrade the standards, quality, and readiness of entrepreneurs to meet stringent business sector regulations.
An essential mechanism is the "Empowering SME" concept, which will select 36 high-potential SMEs for a personalized grooming process in 2026. This involves an in-depth analysis of their business, finance, market, and management aspects to help them scale up and expand into international markets.
Additionally, OSMEP continues to offer support tools such as the Business Development Solutions (BDS) grant system, providing co-payment model assistance up to 200,000 baht per borrower annually, low-interest funding sources totaling 1.2 billion baht for business adaptation, and promoting Green Transformation to meet global environmental standards.
Dr. Panita emphasized that OSMEP's efforts in 2026 will focus on laying the foundation for the future of Thai SMEs by connecting ministries, agencies, and tools to create an ecosystem for sustainable growth and global market participation. OSMEP is committed to supporting government policies for the sustainable advancement of Thai SMEs.