Ministry to seek nod for 2nd phase of shopping subsidy scheme next week
The Ministry of Finance will next week propose to the Centre for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) details of the second phase of the economic stimulus campaign “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves).
Supak Chaiyawan, deputy director of Fiscal Policy Office, said that it would like registration to start within December, so that people would have money to spend during the New Year festival.
In the first phase of the scheme, which began on October 23 and runs until December 31, about 10 million citizens are offered discounts of up to Bt150 per day on purchases at participating stores, capped at Bt3,000 throughout the period.
The government, via Krungthai Bank, transfers the discounted amount to registered merchants via the Thung Ngern application.
“This week we have opened registration for an additional 720,000 participants to fill the 10 million people target in the first phase after some who had previously registered forfeited their rights by not spending within the 14 days,” she said. “Those who could not register in time are advised to wait for the second phase. Details should be announced next week.”
Supak added that the ministry is working on details of another economic stimulus project, aiming to add cash benefit to 14.5 million holders of state welfare cards.
“This project will serve as economic stimulus to low-income earners, which would complement the Khon La Khrueng campaign that is aimed at middle-income earners,” she added.