The government will launch its flagship digital wallet handout scheme in the last quarter of the year, with the timeline of the scheme expected to become clearer after the digital wallet policy committee meets on April 10, according to Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.
The 500-billion-baht scheme is tentatively scheduled to be launched in May, but a delay is widely anticipated as the legality of the scheme has been called into question.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has also warned the government about a range of potential pitfalls tied to the scheme, from graft to legal risks.
In the latest update on the scheme, Mr Julapun said the government's digital wallet policy committee will convene on Wednesday to review the feedback gathered from more than 100 organisations covering the public and private sectors.
The committee will review the NACC's concerns and ask the Finance Ministry to come up with a solution for implementation, he said.
Mr Julapun said all concerned agencies will start preparing ahead of the policy's implementation and brief the digital wallet committee on April 10.
After that, the committee will examine the project's details and submit them to the cabinet for approval.
The process is not expected to take long -- once the cabinet gives the scheme the nod, the scheme's legal aspects, sources of funding and technical details will be laid down, he said.
"Registration for the 10,000-baht digital wallet scheme is expected to start in the third quarter of this year, and the money should be transferred to eligible recipients' accounts in the last quarter.
"The scheme will definitely proceed. The offer will remain the same -- a 10,000-baht handout for 50 million people via the Pao Tang application," he said.
The digital cash handout is the flagship policy of the Pheu Thai-led government, which is meant to stimulate the economy.
Thais aged 16 and older who earn less than 70,000 baht a month and have less than 500,000 baht in their bank accounts stand to receive a 10,000-baht handout under the scheme.
Based on these criteria, an estimated 50 million people will be eligible for the handout -- down from 56 million originally.
Mr Julapun said that there is a consensus that the country needs incentives to stimulate economic growth.
However, at a recent general debate sought by the Senate, Senator Chalermchai Fuengkhon criticised the policy, calling it an attempt to buy votes. He called on the NACC to investigate both the cabinet and the Election Commission (EC) over the policy.
The senator said the government has changed the conditions of the scheme several times but failed to explain how to scheme will be financed, which indicated the Pheu Thai did not study the scheme beforehand.
However, the policy was cleared by the poll agency and even included as one of the government's core policies, despite the policy's backers failure to provide further details on how to finance the scheme within 15 days of delivering the government's policy statement in September last year.
He said the scheme could be a violation of Section 162 of the constitution, so the NACC should launch a probe to ensure the EC's and cabinet's transparency.
Mr Chalermchai also cited concerns raised by various stakeholders, including the Bank of Thailand, to justify his call for the NACC to step in and urged the government to drop the scheme.
"The project isn't cost effective to implement, because the government didn't mean it to tackle the nation's economic problems. It only sought to give money away to people as promised during the election campaign. This could constitute a 'promise to give' [a vote-buying practice]," he said.
Senator Somchai Sawangkarn also called on the government to scrap the digital wallet policy, saying the handout would violate the State Fiscal and Financial Disciplines Act and the charter.
