Government to implement schemes under loan decree pending court ruling

The government will go ahead with implementing the ‘Thai Chuay Thai Plus’ scheme, despite the decision of the House of Representatives to postpone the debate on the 400 billion baht loan decree after opposition parties asked the Constitutional Court to rule on its legality.

Prime Minister’s Office Minister Paradorn Prissananantakul said on Thursday that, the loan decree has already become law after its publication in the Royal Gazette on May 12 and the screening committee has already approved disbursement of the funds to be borrowed under the decree.

Finance Permanent Secretary Lavaron Sangsnit, in his capacity as the screening committee chairman, said that the “Thai Chuay Thai Plus” scheme is split into two parts. One is to help state welfare card holders and the other is to fund the 60:40 co-payment scheme.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said that the loan decree is an important tool in maintaining economic stability in the wake of the oil crisis, which is now affecting the livelihoods of the general public.

He noted that the current oil crisis is completely different from the ‘Tom Yum Kung’ economic crisis in 1997 or the ‘Hamburger’ crisis in 2009 because this crisis is a “bread and butter” crisis driving inflation registered up to 2.9% during the first quarter of this year, with a tendency to push it up further if nothing is done.

The finance minister likened the additional borrowing to medicine needed to cure a disease, noting that the Thai people are now “falling sick” from the high cost of living and are badly in need of the “medication” now.

“Waiting another five months for the new budget would be too late,” he said, adding that the damage will be massive if the crisis is allowed to escalate unchecked.

Citing the “Thai Chuay Thai Plus” scheme under the loan decree, Ekniti said it will enable vendors and SMEs to get access to funding from state-run banks instead of informal lenders.

He also said that the government is ready to defend the loan decree in the Constitutional Court.