Parliament gives go-ahead to 500bn-baht loan to tackle Covid crisis
Lawmakers on Thursday approved the government’s plan to borrow an additional 500 billion baht to deal with the Covid-19 crisis in Thailand.
Of the 469 lawmakers present, 270 voted yay, 196 vetoed and three abstained.
The Royal Gazette website said last week that the emergency decree stipulates that no more than 500 billion baht will be borrowed to provide necessary aid and compensation to people in all occupations who have been affected by the new wave.
A source said the 500 billion baht will be divided as follows:
• 30 billion baht for buying drugs, vaccines, medical equipment as well as for research and development of manufacturing vaccines locally and other medical-related expenses.
• 300 billion baht on cash handouts to ease people’s financial burden.
• 170 billion baht on stimulating the economy, generating jobs and launching investment promotion campaigns to boost the economy once the pandemic is resolved.