Nearly 12 million of the 14 million approved recipients of the government's 5,000-baht cash relief have received their monthly stipend.
Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, secretary to the finance minister, said the monthly allowance has been paid to 11.8 million recipients and the rest are expected to get the aid money this week.
Failure to complete registration has been the most frequently found problem in the appeal process. The Finance Ministry is seeking a method to help the 1.7 million applicants whose registration has not been completed, Mr Thanakorn said after visiting the complaint site.
Personal information discrepancy between registration and citizen ID cards is the main cause of incomplete registration, he said.
There were 28.8 million registrants, but 4.4 million repeat applicants were removed. Of the 24 million applicants, 1.7 million were rejected because they failed to pass identity authentication based on the Provincial Administration Department's database, leaving 22.3 million applicants to go through the qualification screening process.
The appeal deadline is due on May 15, while the outcome is expected to be finalised on May 17.
Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana has assigned related agencies to explore ways to help qualified individuals for the cash handout among the 1.7 million applicants, while those who don't meet the criteria will be forwarded to other state agencies, Mr Thanakorn said.
The 5,000-baht cash handout scheme is part of relief measures directed at those affected by the pandemic and the state's containment measures. The monthly stipend will run for three months, from April to June, to temporary workers, contract employees and self-employed workers who are not covered by the Social Security Fund's Section 33.
The cabinet recently approved raising the number of recipients for the handout to 14 million from 9 million, bringing the budget to 210 billion baht.
Some 1,300 rejected applicants appealed to the Finance Ministry yesterday, fewer than in recent days.
Those who already appealed to the Finance Ministry should not repeat their appeal, Mr Thanakorn said, as some have submitted up to five petitions and dragged down the screening process.