(July 15): Thailand will next month begin enrolling citizens eligible to receive cash from the government as part of an about US$14 billion (RM65.41 billion) programme to stimulate Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.

An estimated 50 million Thais 16 years and older are qualified to receive 10,000 baht (US$276 or RM1,289) each under the so-called digital wallet scheme, the centrepiece of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s strategy to reignite an economy stuck at an average growth rate of less than 2% for the past decade.

Eligible citizens and participating merchants can register for the programme from Aug 1, Srettha said on X on Monday. Earlier, a panel headed by the prime minister approved finer details of the cash handout that will be financed through federal budgets for this year and next.

The government is on course to disburse the money in the fourth quarter of this year, and the handout will create “a whirlwind” impact on the economy, according to Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.

The main election pledge of the ruling Pheu Thai party, the digital wallet has been dogged by controversies over the government’s shifting stance on how to finance it.

After initially proposing to cover about 55 million Thais and financing it through state budget, Srettha’s Cabinet decided to exclude affluent Thais and fund it through a one-off borrowing. But potential legal challenges and warnings from the nation’s anti-graft agency prompted the government to rework the funding options. It has now dropped a plan to borrow 172 billion baht from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, citing risks of legal challenges.

“The digital wallet programme is a massive state programme to inject money into the pockets of people, entrepreneurs and the overall economy,” Srettha said. “To ensure caution, whether legally or technically, especially regarding security, it has taken a long time. But the people won’t be waiting in vain.”

The prime minister is set to announce details of the programme on July 24 before seeking a Cabinet approval the following week.

The Finance Ministry estimates that no more than 90% of 50 million eligible people will sign up for the scheme, limiting the cost to 450 billion baht, Julaphun said Monday.

Under a revised funding plan outlined last week, 284 billion baht will be allocated from the budget for the fiscal year from Oct 1, up from 152 billion baht planned earlier. The remaining 165 billion baht will come from spending tweaks and a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput has stood firm in his opposition to such a broad cash handout plan, saying the prudent thing to do would be to limit the scope of the handout to about 15 million welfare cardholders.

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