Rise in circulating cash could be linked to vote buying: Academic
An increased number of banknotes circulating in the economy in the first three months of the year has sparked concerns that some might have been used to buy votes for the upcoming general election on May 14.
The issue was raised on Sunday by Prof Attakrit Patchimnan, director of Thammasat University’s Sanya Dharmasakti Institute for Democracy.
Attakrit, who is a political science lecturer, was citing statistics from the Bank of Thailand, which reported an increase of cash in the Thai economy by Bt52.42 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
According to the central bank, total circulating cash in January stood at Bt2.38 trillion, before jumping to Bt2.4 trillion in February and Bt2.43 trillion in March.
When divided by type, the Bt1,000 bills saw the greatest increase in three months at Bt42.52 billion, followed by the Bt500 bills at Bt8.09 billion. The Bt100 bills, meanwhile, saw a decrease in usage by Bt249 million.
Attakrit said there was a possibility that the jump in cash usage earlier this year correlates to the upcoming general election in May to elect 500 members of the House of Representatives to form the new government.
Political parties could be using these notes to buy votes, he added.
He said further study is still needed, especially by comparing the cash circulation to that during the 2019 general election.
Attakrit also suggested detailed data collection for the last week leading to May 14 to detect any unusual rise in banknote usage.
“A comparative study of this issue over different election periods would help determine if there is vote buying in each election and by how much,” he said.
