A 37.1-billion-baht budget is planned as a financial remedy to assist employees covered by Section 33 of the Social Security Act (SSA) and state enterprise employees, says a Finance Ministry official.

The sum covers 9 million people and the "Section 33 Rao Rak Kan" (We Love Each Other) proposal will be forwarded for cabinet approval on Monday, said a Finance Ministry official who requested anonymity.

The committee overseeing the expenditure of the 1-trillion-baht emergency loan decree has approved 4,000 baht each for employees covered by Section 33 of the SSA, said the source. The 37.1-billion-baht budget comes from the emergency loan decree.

Important eligibility criteria include having deposits in a bank account not exceeding 500,000 baht as of December 2020, without any limitation for eligibility placed on each employee's monthly salary. This is different from the Rao Chana (We Win) scheme, which limits the financial remedy for eligible informal workers, as their bank deposits must not exceed 500,000 baht and annual taxable income cannot exceed 300,000 baht, or 25,000 baht per month, for the 2019 tax filing.

The source said eligible recipients of the 4,000-baht remedy must be employees covered by Section 33 of the SSA, with a reference point dated as of Jan 19, 2021. This means employees whose status is still qualified as covered by Section 33 as of Jan 19 will be able to receive the monetary relief.

There were 11 million employees under Section 33 as of January, according to the Social Security Fund Office.

Disbursement of the 4,000-baht financial remedy is via an electronic system.

It was reported earlier that qualified workers would receive money transfers via the Pao Tang app at a rate of 1,000 baht per week for four weeks.