Phase 3 of the "Khon La Khrueng" (Let's Go Halves) co-payment scheme and the "Ying Chai Ying Dai" (The More You Spend, The More You Get) scheme have generated combined consumer spending of almost 100 billion baht as of Oct 10, says Pornchai Thiraveja, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office.
He said phase 3 of Khon La Khrueng generated spending of 87.1 billion baht. Of the total spending, 44.3 billion baht was contributed by 24.9 million participants from a total of 27.6 million people registered in the programme. The other 42.8 billion baht was contributed by state subsidy payments.
Phase 3 of the Khon La Khrueng scheme began last month, while the Ying Chai Ying Dai scheme began in June this year. Under phase 3 of Khon La Khrueng, the government pays for half of food, drink and general goods purchases of up to 300 baht per person per day, capped at 3,000 baht per person.
The Ying Chai Ying Dai scheme provides users with cashback e-vouchers for domestic purchases, encouraging people to purchase food, products and services at participating shops through the Krungthai Bank Pao Tang mobile app. Spending under Ying Chai Ying Dai stood at 2.55 billion baht, generated by 80,793 participants from a total of 470,000 people registered in the programme. The cashback e-voucher as of Oct 10 accounted for 218 million baht.
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said recently the ministry might pump fresh money into the economy in the fourth quarter and extend stimulus measures to help revive the economy. He said the government could consider more handouts via existing stimulus packages, or extension of stimulus to cover holidays in early 2022.