Finance Ministry to review Thai Tiew Thai Plus, rooftop solar

Finance Ministry to review conditions for spending remaining funds under third phase of Thai Tiew Thai Plus and rooftop solar programme.

Vinit Visessuvanapoom, director of the Fiscal Policy Office, said the Finance Ministry still has 20 billion baht left from the 200-billion-baht tranche of the 400-billion-baht additional public borrowing aimed at boosting tourism and promoting the transition away from fossil fuels. However, the ministry wants to revise the conditions for spending the money.

Under the Thai Tiew Thai Plus programme, the government covers 30% to 50% of hotel room discounts. The Finance Ministry wants the money instead to be used for food at restaurants or shopping in malls, Vinit said. The move is aimed at preventing hotels from exploiting the programme by overcharging for rooms.

He also said the Finance Ministry wants to assess the outcome of the Thai Tiew Thai Plus programme before extending it, after discovering that some shops had refused to participate and some recipients had demanded cash payments from shops instead of using the government subsidy to buy goods or services as originally intended.

As for the household rooftop solar programme, Chindarat Viriyathaveekul, director of the Office of Public Debt Management, said the Finance Ministry will propose reducing its size, including the target number of households, which could be cut from the original 1 million.

The ministry also plans to reduce the installation subsidy from 50,000 baht to 30,000 baht, with the subsidy capped at 50,000 baht depending on the suitability of each household.

The changes are being considered after it was found that the down payment for installing a 5MW solar system would be cost-effective for households that pay at least 3,000 baht a month in electricity bills.