Three state-owned banks have begun to give cash handouts to low-income earners, and government spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd on Sunday said the payments scheme was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
They are Krungthai Bank (KTB), Government Savings Bank (GSB) and Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
People earning less than 30,000 baht a year are entitled to a handout of 3,000 baht each and those earning between 30,000 and 100,000 baht a year, 1,500 baht each.
The number of low-income earners who registered for the payment and have passed qualification checks has reached 981,000 with KTB, 2,1 million with the GSB and 3.8 million with the BAAC.
Of the total, about 3.8 million are entitled to get the 1,500 baht and 3.1 million to the 3,000 baht handouts.
Lt Gen Sansern said that from Dec 10 the three banks had begun to transfer the money to the deposit passbooks of those who are entitled to get the handouts. Those without deposit passbooks could collect the money from the banks they registered with.
The government spokesman denied as untrue a rumour on the social media that the cabinet had approved a 4% increase on the subsistence allowance for state pensioners, effective retroactively from Dec 1. In fact, the subsistence allowance for state pensioners was last increased by 4% on Dec 1, 2014.
"The government is concerned about all groups of people, especially low-income earners, and has extended assistance to farmers, government officials and employees as well as people holding other occupations. The assistance has been made systematic via proper registration.
"The financial assistance is a short-term measure which is being carried out along with long-term economic measures to spur domestic consumption without putting more burden of debt on the people," Lt Gen Sansern said.