"Cash"

Nearly half of all Thai consumers – 45 per cent – are likely to avoid using money after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, Visas Consumer Payment Attitudes study showed on Wednesday.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved more cash handouts via the Rao Chana (We Win) and Rao Rak Kan (We Love Each Other) Covid-relief schemes. Each person registered for the schemes will receive a total of THB2,000 before the end of June, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to allow another 2.4 million people to register for the government’s cash-handout “RaoChana” (We Win) scheme and agreed to give beneficiaries until June 30 to use up their subsidy, a source said.

Kuwait's government has transferred the last of its performing assets to the country's sovereign wealth fund in exchange for cash to plug its budget deficit after a political dispute over borrowing left one of the world's richest nations short of cash and prompted Fitch to cut its outlook to negative.

The central bank on Tuesday (August 11) accepted 10 kilograms of gold donated by the public to help boost the country’s reserves in a merit-making ceremony held in honour of late Ajahn Maha Bua, one of the most famous teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism.

More than 300 tourism operators who applied for a return of excess collateral have received cash worth Bt18.62 million under a Tourism and Sports Ministry measure to relieve their suffering amid the Covid-19 crisis, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported.

Approximately 300 Songkhla residents affected by the Covid-19 crisis went to the old town area on Nang Ngam Road in Mueang district on Sunday (April 12) to receive food and money.

Five negative posts on social media about the government’s cash-handout programme have been forwarded to Thailand's Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression, Ministry of Finance spokesperson Lavaron Sangsnit said.

Only 1.68 million of the more than 24 million who applied for government cash handouts to help people affected by the Covid-19 outbreak were found to be eligible, the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) said.

The government should discuss with retailers, wholesalers, and convenience store entrepreneurs on reducing product prices to raise the buying power of the government's cash handouts, former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij said.

The Bank of Thailand has allowed exporters to park more money aboard as a measure to tame strengthening of the baht against the currencies of Thailand's trade partners and help exporters better manage foreign exchange risks. 

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has set aside Bt38 billion in cash for commercial banks to disburse during the Chinese New Year festival.