Government aims to sign up 1 million retailers for shopping subsidy scheme
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is pleased with the response to the “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) campaign from citizens and merchants, deputy government spokesperson Ratchada Dhanadirek said on Saturday.
According to Ministry of Finance data on November 6, more than 523,000 merchant outlets and 7.1 million citizens participated in the campaign, while accumulated spending under the campaign totalled Bt7.62 billion of which Bt3.88 billion came from the consumers and Bt3.74 billion was subsidised by the government.
The five provinces with the highest spending are Bangkok, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Chiang Mai.
The ministry will open registration for the second round of the government's discounted shopping campaign on November 11.
To increase the number of retailers, Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda has instructed provincial governors and district chiefs nationwide to publicise the campaign and facilitate registration by merchants, targeting the number of merchant outlets in the scheme to hit 1 million.
"However, the prime minister was worried about some merchants taking advantage of the campaign, such as by jacking up prices or transaction fraud. Therefore, the government would like to ask registrants and merchants to follow the campaign criteria and conditions," Ratchada said.
The campaign aimed to mitigate people's expense burden, stimulate the grassroots economy and help small entrepreneurs by using the budget wisely and transparently, Ratchada said, adding that Krungthai Bank had set up a fraud prevention system and the rights of users who violated the campaign conditions would be suspended immediately.
"There may be legal proceedings against fraudulent activities as well," she added.