The government's digital wallet policy committee is expected to resume its work after a meeting between Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday the handout programme is a top priority and the committee is likely to schedule its next meeting shortly after the planned talk between Mr Srettha and Mr Julapun.
The digital wallet policy committee had postponed its Jan 16 meeting in order to hear the results of a study on the handout from a panel set up by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
On Saturday Mr Srettha said he would speed up talks with Mr Julapun on how to move ahead with the 10,000-baht digital wallet scheme while waiting for the anti-graft agency's report.
"The committee will meet as soon as possible. The government has the obligation to fulfill and has to gather opinions from relevant agencies. Let's see when the scheme can be implemented and how," Mr Phumtham said.
He said the government is ready to comply with the NACC's recommendations, which are yet to received by the government.
However, if the anti-graft agency's comments echo speculation of the content widely reported by the media, the government has not committed any wrongdoing and will not be ordered to halt the policy, he said.
He stressed that the digital wallet policy is necessary to avert an economic crisis similar to the crash of 1997.
The government has maintained the need to stimulate the economy through its digital wallet scheme by saying that the country's economy is in a state of a crisis as it expanded at an average rate of 1.9% per year over the past decade.
It plans to obtain 500 billion baht loans to finance the scheme but critics warn that this could violate the State Fiscal and Financial Discipline Act because the country has shown no sign of being in a crisis that needs such a scheme to urgently shore up the economy.
