Thai Government Launches Economic Stimulus Project

The Thai government has initiated an economic stimulus project, as announced in the political declaration to the Parliament. The first phase involves an amendment to the 10,000 baht recharge project in the digital wallet, targeting people with state cards and disabilities.

Prime Minister Pae Thongthan Shinawatra revealed that the Cabinet meeting approved the 2024 economic stimulus project, which will start on February 25, 2024. The project has been approved by relevant agencies, including the Bank of Thailand (BoT), the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), and the Office of the Council of State.

140 Billion Distributed to 14 Million People

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Pichai Chunhavajira stated that the cabinet meeting approved the 2024 economic stimulus project, targeting 14.55 million people with state cards and disabilities. The budget for the project is approximately 145.552 million baht.

“The government must quickly add more money to the economy. Starting September 25, and will accelerate the transfer of money to be completed in September 2024 immediately.”

The money transfer system has limited capacity, allowing only about 4 million people to receive payments per day. Therefore, the payment will be divided into installments as follows:

Timeline for Transferring Money to the First Group

Date: September 25, 2024, transferring money to people with disabilities and social card holders with the last digit of their ID card number equal to 0, equal to 3.28 million people.

Date: September 26, 2024, transferring money to welfare card holders with the last digit of their ID card number 1-3, a total of 4.51 million people.

Date: September 27, 2024, transferring money to social card holders with the last digit of their ID card number 4-7, a total of 4.51 million people.

Date: September 30, 2024, transferring money to welfare card holders with the last digit of their ID card number 8-9, a total of 2.26 million people.

Budget Sources for the Project

The budget sources for the project include:

1. Additional expenditure budget for fiscal year 2024, central budget, expenditure items for stimulating the economy and strengthening the economic system, amount of 122 billion baht.

2. Expenditure budget for fiscal year 2024, central budget, reserve items for emergencies or necessary, the amount does not exceed 23,552.40 million baht.

The transfer amount will cover vulnerable people, divided into two parts, including 14.5 million people receiving money, divided into about 12.4 million holders of state welfare cards and about 2.1 million people with disabilities.

Establishing a Working Group to Stimulate the Economy

The government will set up a committee to stimulate the economy, with the Prime Minister as the chairman, to look into the details of the existing budget and other details that need to be brought forward.

“From now on, there will be an economic stimulus committee. I will sit and watch carefully. That will look at many factors together. How will you pay? When will you pay? What is the pay? We will have to sit and watch again.”