The House Budget Scrutiny Committee decided today to put on hold the 152.7 billion baht budget earmarked for the government’s ‘digital wallet’ scheme due to a lack of details about the project.
Takorn Tantasith, a Thai Sang Thai party-list MP and a member of the committee, said in his Facebook post that they have demanded that the Office of the Permanent Secretary of Finance provide details of the scheme for consideration.
Meanwhile, Move Forward party-list MP and also a member of the committee, Sirikan Tansakul, said in her “X” post that there is only one page of information, which only indicates the amount budget, 152.7 billion baht to be earmarked from the Central Fund in the 2025 fiscal year, for the scheme. No other details are provided.
She further noted that there is no mention of which state agency or agencies will take charge of the scheme.
The 500 billion baht populist scheme will be funded by 175 billion baht from the 2024 fiscal budget, 152.7 billion baht from the 2025 fiscal budget and 172.3 billion baht to be borrowed from the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.
All Thais aged 16 and over will be eligible to receive a one-time 10,000 baht benefit from the scheme, on the condition that their annual income is not more than 840,000 baht or their combined bank account deposits do not exceed 500,000 baht.
