An estimated minimum of 120 billion baht will be spent on election-related activities, which is twice the amount previously estimated, according to the Business and Economic Forecast Centre of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce.
The centre said its forecast for spending by all political parties on election-related activities is in line with Bank of Thailand information, indicating that the circulation of cash in the Thai economy during the first three months of this year increased by about 234 billion baht to 6.98 trillion baht, an increase of 3.47% over the same period last year.
In a breakdown of the circulation of 1,000-baht and 500-baht banknotes, the centre said that the denominations increased by 1.9% and 14.2% respectively, which is considered normal by the Thai Bankers Association for a pre-election campaign period.
The centre said that the increased spending is expected to drive economic growth by 0.5% to 0.7%.
According to the committee for economic development for the north-eastern region of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, some of the spending might have been on vote buying, which has become more sophisticated.
Instead of paying voters in cash, as was the case in the past, vote buyers now use QR codes or the “PromptPay” app to transfer money.
According to the Bank of Thailand, electronic money transfers in January this year, particularly through mobile banking platforms, peaked at about 2,182 million, an increase of 39.6%, while the value of the transfers increased to about 8.86 billion baht a month, an increase of 6.7% on last year.
