B254bn spent on four economic relief schemes in last year

>>More than 41 million people participated in four popular economic relief programmes with their combined spending exceeding 254 billion baht last year, says the Finance Ministry.

The figures were rounded off on Friday. The programmes are the third-phase aid for holders of state welfare cards, aid for people requiring special assistance, the thirdphase Khon La Krueng (“Half and Half”) co-payment subsidy and the Ying Chai Ying Dai (the more you spend, the more you get) stimulus scheme.

They attracted 41.5 million participants nationwide who spent a total of 254.2 billion baht, according to Pornchai Theeravech, director of the Fiscal Policy Office and the ministry’s spokesman.

Breaking down the spending, he said the third-phase aid for holders of state welfare cards drew 13.5 million users who spent 24 billion baht. Aid for people requiring special assistance, meanwhile, saw 1.5 million participants who spent 2.1 billion baht, while the third-phase Khon La Krueng subsidy recorded 26.3 million active users out of 27.9 million subscribers.

Spending for the Half and Half programme, which subsidises spending on consumer purchases, totalled 223.9 billion baht. Of the 26.3 million users, 10.8 million spent the maximum 4,500 baht throughout the third phase of the programme.

Mr Pornchai said most people used the subsidy scheme to buy meals and beverages (88 billion baht), goods at state-run Thong Fah discount stores (10.8 billion baht) and purchases at general stores (84 billion baht). As for the Ying Chai Ying Dai programme, 490,000 people were eligible to join the scheme. However, only 91,952 regularly took advantage of it.

The Ying Chai Ying Dai scheme provides users with cash-back e-vouchers for domestic purchases, encouraging them to buy food, products and services at participating shops through the Krungthai Bank Pao Tang mobile application. Spending came to 3.8 billion baht as of the end last year.