A large majority of people agree with the government's move to enable each holder of a welfare card to withdraw an extra 100-200 baht in cash, hoping this will help stimulate the economy, according to an opinion survey conducted by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted on Sept 11-12 on 1,253 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on the recent cabinet resolution. The scheme enables each welfare care holder to withdraw 100-200 baht in cash to spend on items other than the basic necessities at Blue Flag outlets, bus and train tickets that the welfare card already entitles them to.
Cardholders can withdraw the cash at any Krungthai Bank branch or ATM from this month until December 2018. Any leftover credit each month will be added to the following month’s allowance.
A majority of the respondents, 80.84%, support the scheme, saying it enables low-income earners to buy necessities not available at Blue Flag shops; only 17.80% disagreed, saying it does not address the root cause of economic problems; and 1.36% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked whether the scheme would help spur the economy, 44.61% said it would be helpful; 40.22% thought it would be of little help; 13.73% believed it would not be of any help at all; and 1.44% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked whether the welfare cards help reduce the social and economic gap between the rich and the poor, 68.08% said "no"; 28.89% said "yes"; and 3.03% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked whether they think the distribution of welfare cards is something other than a populist policy, 66.00% said "no", believing they are the same; 24.02% said they are different because the welfare cards are for low-income people only; and 9.98% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked to choose between other forms of welfare they would like the government to provide, the respondents picked medical expenses (47.73%); farm subsidies (38.71%); a welfare fund for the elderly and retirees (36.31%); an occupational promotion fund (25.94%); tuition fees (23.78%); subsidies for mass transportation and utilities such as electricity and water (20.35%); a welfare fund for the disabled (10.77%); welfare for daily wage labourers (9.02%); and repayments of debts with the Government Savings Bank, Government Housing Banks and Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.