Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul has confirmed that the government has sufficient funding for the second phase of the digital wallet scheme, with a budget of 180 billion baht having already been allocated.
He said the first phase of the cash handout scheme that targeted 14.5 million people, including state welfare cardholders and people with disabilities, used a 145-billion-baht budget, which has already been transferred.
He confirmed that the second phase will proceed, but the method and timeline will be decided later by the economic stimulus committee, chaired by the premier.
Regarding the 10,000-baht transfers in the first phase, Mr Paopoom reported that the process has gone smoothly so far. Around 200,000 people have experienced unsuccessful transfers, which is not considered to be a large number, as they had not yet linked their accounts to PromptPay.
Therefore, he urged those affected to quickly link their accounts, either by visiting their bank or using an ATM.
The government will attempt the transfers again on Oct 22, Nov 22, and Dec 22. Other processes have proceeded as anticipated, as indicated by a significant increase in ATM withdrawals, especially at branches of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, where withdrawals surged 18 times. This is because the vulnerable groups would generally tend to withdraw the full amount as soon as it was transferred, mainly to spend within their local communities.
For people with disabilities who missed out, the Finance Ministry has coordinated with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to verify their details and instruct them to link their accounts to PromptPay before the next transfer dates.
In a separate development regarding the review of applications for the establishment of virtual banks, or branchless commercial banks, for which the application period has now closed, Mr Paopoom said he believed that all banks meeting the requirements specified should be approved, rather than limiting the number of available licences. The five applications submitted are not considered to be excessive. According to the schedule, the Bank of Thailand has six months to evaluate the applications, but Mr Paopoom believes the process should be expedited.
