Anutin opens Thai Helps Thai event to ease cost-of-living burden
Discounted essentials will be sold through mobile vendors, community shops and Thailand Post points, with savings targeted at no less than THB280 million.
- Prime Minister Anutin launched the "Thai Helps Thai" project, which uses mobile shops to sell essential consumer goods at prices below the general market to lower living costs for the public.
- The project will run from May 15 to June 14, distributing 14 essential items like palm oil, rice, and detergent through a network of over 3,800 mobile vendors, community shops, and post offices.
- Participating mobile vendors receive support, including fuel cards and starter kits of goods, and must sell items at prescribed special prices.
- The initiative aims to reduce public expenses by at least THB280 million and benefit over 4 million households nationwide, particularly in remote areas.
Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister, presided over the opening of the Thai Helps Thai: Cost of Living Relief activity at Government House.
Suphajee Suthumpun, Minister of Commerce, and relevant ministers attended.
Anutin wore a vest for the Thai Helps Thai: Cost of Living Relief project and took Suphajee as a passenger on a phuang phuang mobile shop vehicle (Mobile Grocery Truck) in the form of a three-wheeled sidecar, travelling from the front of the Santi Maitri Building to the Thai Khu Fah Building to kick off the activity.
Anutin said, “Goods here are cheaper than general market prices. The mobile vendors are part of the Ministry of Commerce’s Thai Helps Thai project. I would like all Thai people to know that these are goods they can come and buy at prices lower than the market, lower than prices in department stores. We have received help from many operators. Buy as much as you can buy, and you will get goods at lower prices, while the standard quality, taste, ingredients and everything else remain unchanged.”
The “Thai Helps Thai: Cost of Living Relief, Commerce Mobile Vendors Cut Prices to Help the Public” project will run from May 15 to June 14, distributing consumer goods at special prices to communities nationwide through mobile vendors, community shops and Thailand Post service points.
It is being carried out through cooperation between the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, together with operators, to ease the cost-of-living burden on the public, especially in remote areas where access to affordable goods is difficult.
The project aims to reduce public expenses by no less than THB280 million and cover more than 4 million households nationwide.
The project will bring 14 essential consumer goods from 12 operators, including palm oil, rice and detergent, for sale through a nationwide network of more than 3,800 mobile vendor vehicles, 946 postal sales points at provincial and district level, and 129 community shops.
Participating mobile vendor operators will receive fuel support through Fleet Cards or Top-up Cards from PTT petrol stations, divided by vehicle type: motorcycles will receive THB250 per week, or THB1,000 per month; three-wheelers will receive THB375 per week, or THB1,500 per month; and pickup trucks will receive THB750 per week, or THB3,000 per month.
In addition, project participants will receive starter kits.
Pickup trucks will receive starter kits of 14 items totalling 64 pieces; three-wheelers will receive starter kits of 14 items totalling 37 pieces; and motorcycles will receive starter kits of eight items totalling 22 pieces.
Participants in the project must sell goods at the prescribed prices and clearly display sale price signs to assure the public that they can access goods at special prices and to prevent opportunistic price increases.
The Ministry of Interior, through the Department of Provincial Administration, opened registration for mobile vendor operators between May 1 and May 7.
A total of 10,397 operators registered to join the project, comprising 3,539 motor vehicles (L), 4,535 sidecar three-wheelers (M) and 2,323 motorcycles (S).
