The Finance Ministry is negotiating with the Budget Bureau for an 80-billion-baht budget to finance the government's subsidy and welfare scheme to alleviate poverty.
The bureau wants to allocate only 50 billion baht for the programme, permanent secretary for finance Somchai Sujjapongse said.
Of the total 80 billion baht requested by the Finance Ministry, 30 billion will be used to fund basic welfare, including free rides on public buses and trains, as well as partially subsidising utility bills. The remaining 50 billion is to put cash in the pockets of those living below the poverty line, which stands at 30,000 baht a year or 2,500 baht a month.
The Finance Ministry and the Budget Bureau are trying to reach a compromise, he said.
The number of registrants for the welfare scheme this year stood at 14.1 million, up from 8.27 million in 2016.
Mr Somchai said 7.5 million of the 14.1 million registrants claim they earn an annual income less than 30,000 baht and the Finance Ministry is verifying their financial and asset declarations.
The Finance Ministry recently predicted that more than half of this year's registrants will declare a total annual income under 30,000 baht with many of them understating their income in order to take advantage of the government plan to offer higher financial aid to those living below the poverty line.
Those who are qualified will receive money to help them meet basic needs, in addition to other measures such as subsidised transport and utility bills -- to be offered to people earning 30,000-100,000 baht a year.
The ministry's criteria this year to receive aid requires applicants to be unemployed or have an annual income of 100,000 baht or less last year. They must also have savings, bonds or savings certificates worth less than 100,000 baht in total.
If applicants own property, the area must not exceed 35 square metres for a condo unit, 25 square wah for a townhouse or 10 rai of land for agricultural purposes.
Applicants must be Thai nationals aged 18 and over.
He said the verification of information submitted by registrants is expected to be completed by this month and that 30,000-40,000 were disqualified after initial checks because some had died soon after registering and the names of others do not match their household registration.
In the meantime, National Statistical Office's deputy director-general Tanate Rungrojchaiporn said the government will open applications for students aged 18 and older interested in interviewing registrants early this month.
The students will check whether registrants' information is correct and what kind of assistance they want most, he said, adding that information provided will be confidential and submitted to the National Statistical Office and the Fiscal Policy Office to process the information.