The government will draft a bill to borrow 500 billion baht

Chatrudee Theparat

The government will draft a bill to borrow 500 billion baht to move ahead its digital wallet scheme.

The government yesterday approved the controversial scheme and agreed to seek a source of its fund of 600 billion baht to use in the digital wallet scheme and fund to strengthen Thai competitiveness, especially in s-curve industries.

Prime Minister Sreetha Thavisin said after an approval for the draft bill of the Office of the Council of State, the government will propose the bill to parliament to approve, with 500 billion baht loan to use in 10,000-baht digital wallet scheme and also use 100 billion baht from the fiscal budget 2024-2026.

He said the government agreed on the targeted group of 50 million people aged over 16 will be allowed to participate the scheme, and also required not to have salary over 70,000 baht a month or deposit less than 500,000 baht.

The scheme is expected to implement in May 2024. The program participants are allowed to use first spending within six months and to spend only in their districts. The scheme will be expired in April 2027. Participants are required to register within March 2024 via G-wallet -Paotang, which currently 40 million people and 1.8 million shops offering products and services have registered the application.

Mr Sreetha said the government plans to allocate budget to repay loans within four years.

The government plans to propose the bill to borrow 500 billion baht to the parliament early 2024 in order to make the scheme happen in May 2024.

He said the 100 billion baht from the fiscal budget 2024-2025-2026 will be allocated to use in the competitiveness fund by June 2024 in a bid to boost investment in 13 targeted industries covering agriculture and bio-technology, aviation, tourism and wellness, smart automotive, fuel and biological chemistry, medical, smart electronics, circular economy, robotics, digital, food, security and human resource and research.

The government also implements the e-refund policy in order to stimulate expenditure among consumers. For those People cannot participate in the wallet scheme can be happy with this program, with an offer of not over 50,000 baht spending and a requirement for only electronics-tax refund from shopping spree in taxable.

Mr Sreetha said those schemes are expected to help boost Thai economy to grow an average 5 % annually within four years.