Thai PM seeking Plan B as govt waits for NACC advice on digital wallet scheme

The scheme will see the government handing out 10,000 baht in a digital wallet to eligible Thais.

Srettha, who also doubles as finance minister, said that after discussing the matter with Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat, he learned that the government has to wait for recommendations from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) before implementing the project.

“We have been waiting for a long time already,” he said.

“My personal view is that there should be a plan B, as the recommendations have not arrived yet and people can’t wait.”

The PM said he would ask the NACC next week to see if the agency was still looking for further information from the government.

An NACC subcommittee studying the digital wallet scheme recently concluded that it should not be implemented because the country’s economy was not in a serious enough crisis to warrant such a huge off-budget borrowing of 500 billion baht. The subpanel also reportedly warned that the project implementation could lead to massive corruption and siphoning of the money.

The scheme was a flagship election campaign platform of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, which promised to hand out 10,000 baht in digital money to all Thais aged 16 and above. However, after taking power and recognising legal constraints, the Pheu Thai-led coalition government revised the scheme to exclude those earning more than 70,000 baht per month and those with savings above 500,000 baht.
 

Implementation of the project has been postponed indefinitely, as its supporters and opponents engage in a public debate over the pros and cons of borrowing huge amounts of money to fund the handouts.

Meanwhile, an opinion poll of more than 500 leaders in the business, political, civil, and educational sectors has found that 62.2% of the respondents disagreed with the plan to hand out money to people and wanted the government to scrap the project.

Another 21.3% suggested that the project should be postponed or carefully considered. Only 13% agreed with the project and asked for the government to speed up its implementation.

The Leadership Poll was conducted by Rangsit University’s College of Leadership and Social Innovation.

Asst Prof Jomdet Trimek, deputy dean of the college, said the survey was conducted in January on 543 people selected through a “purposive sampling” method. The samples are leaders from four sectors – civil society, business, politics, and education. He said the respondents included business executives, representatives from non-governmental organisations and foundations, senior local administrators, and university deans and vice-rectors.