The government looks set to allow Village Funds to pay 1,000-2,000 baht to 13 million members for fund-related activities nationwide to promote domestic spending.
According to Rakpong Sengcharoen, head of the National Village and Urban Community Office, increased domestic spending will help offset somewhat the sharp drop in foreign visitors amid the outbreak.
"If the 13 million Village Fund members and their families take study trips, the scheme will substitute spending by foreign visitors," he said.
In fact, the regulations of the Village Fund scheme allow each fund to subsidise a total of 50,000 baht a year to sponsor study trips for members.
Mr Rakpong said the office aims to encourage all fund members to study other Village Funds in nearby provinces to inspire community development.
He said the office is also accelerating network development among the 13 million members to tap into the flourishing online channel.
"I've assigned officials to use big data for the existing 79,589 Village Funds nationwide to monitor their development, activities and products, to make browsing online easier for trips," said Mr Rakpong.
"The office is encouraging every Village Fund to use Facebook to connect with members and message information such as tourism seasons, fruit products and other processed products in each region."
He said the office will soon finalise the details of the proposal as well as plan additional funding for Village Funds.
Earlier in February, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the government vowed to continue introducing economic stimulus in the first and second quarters. Fresh measures include a higher budget for Village Funds and soft loans for water resource development.
Mr Somkid said additional funding for Village Funds will be channelled through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and the Government Savings Bank. The new funding is in addition to the 99 billion baht the government budgeted for Village Funds in January to beef up rural economies this year.
The 99-billion-baht plan includes 14 billion for projects and 75 billion in debt suspension for members of the National Village and Community Fund.
On Nov 26, the cabinet approved 144 billion baht in stimulus measures, aiming to boost full-year economic growth to 2.8% and maintain momentum in the first quarter.
The measures include an allocation of 200,000 baht each to 71,742 Village Funds nationwide, worth some 14 billion baht. There are 79,598 Village and Urban Funds with 368 billion baht in revolving funds.