Cabinet endorses reallocation of Bt157bn to stimulate the economy

The Cabinet approved the reallocation of budgets today, totalling 157 billion baht from the Central Fund, including the funding originally intended for the struggling “digital wallet” scheme, to support projects which will help stimulate the sluggish economy.

According to Government Spokesman Jirayu Houngsub, the projects fall into the following categories:

• Water management: This encompasses measures to prevent flooding during the rainy season, store water for the dry season, supply for communities and agriculture and the development of the tap water system.

• Communication: This includes addressing traffic bottlenecks, constructing missing links, increasing travel and transport safety, improving railway crossings, the building of more rest areas for trucks and road improvements in secondary cities and tourist areas.

• Tourism: This includes development of tourist areas, such as increasing the number of public toilets, rest areas and traffic signs, increased safety for tourists, such as the installation of more CCTV systems in tourist destinations and stimulation of the tourism-related economy.

• Improvement of productivity in the agricultural sector, reducing the impacts on the export sector and financial support for exporters.

• Financial support for community-based initiatives, such as the Village Fund project.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra explained today that the government has not scrapped the digital wallet scheme and “may” revive it in the future, when the situation is right.

She said that, since the Economic Stimulation Committee has decided that the digital wallet scheme is not the optimum way to stimulate the economy, the government must comply and use the money for the utmost benefit, including coping with the potential impacts of increased US tariffs on Thai exports.