The Commerce Ministry's Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) has asked the government to increase the number of food items on the list of products that can be bought via the state welfare project.
The proposal was made after the office found that food items made up 45% of total expenses for low-income earners, according to a survey of the Low-Income Consumer Price Index, which aims to measure the spending of the poor.
Pimchanok Vonkorpon, the TPSO director-general, said the government should add more food items such as meat, seafood and a better variety of vegetables to the Thong Fah Pracha Rat shops.
"From the data we have at this stage, we found that the measures to help the poor are on the right track," she said. "However, they should be adjusted to be more effective in helping the poor cut their cost of living."
The state welfare project gives 200 baht a month to low-income earners through state welfare cards, which let them buy consumer goods at Thong Fah Pracha Rat shops at lower-than-market prices.
Ms Pimchanok said adding more food items to the list of goods at the shop would give low-income earners more choices and let them spend their money on other expenses such as transport.
She said the TPSO will conduct another survey over the next few months to measure whether the state welfare project can help curb inflation and accelerate spending among the poor to support the local economy.
"We need to monitor consumer spending behaviour for recipients to see whether the government can help them save more money to spend on other goods," Ms Pimchanok said.
The Commerce Ministry is still keeping its 2017 inflation target in the range of 0.4-1%.
"We expect inflation this year to stand at 0.7%," Ms Pimchanok said, adding that low oil prices will curb price growth.