PM Srettha forms team to clarify digital wallet scheme amidst confusion

[webfact]

 

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin agreed to establish a dedicated team to effectively communicate details about the government’s flagship digital wallet scheme.

 

This move yesterday, October 31, comes in response to a wave of suggestions from various sources, aiming to avoid any public confusion regarding the scheme.

 

PM Srettha acknowledged the circulation of differing information about the wallet scheme. He urged the public to wait patiently for official details, which he assured would be announced all at once in due course.

 

Earlier, before a Cabinet meeting, the 61 year old prime minister was questioned about a comment made by one of his advisors, Pichai Chunhavajira.

Pichai had suggested that the digital wallet programme’s launch could be delayed until September next year due to a budget deficit, contrary to the original plan of beginning in February.

 

by Mitch Connor

Picture courtesy of Siamrath

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-11-01

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[smedly]

making election promises they cannot keep

[DPKANKAN]

Explain how the poor and old people without smart phones, WiFi and bank accounts, many living in the boonies, can access it too you morons!!!

[Dogmatix]

He urged the public to wait patiently for official details, which he assured would be announced all at once in due course.

 

Why do they need to wait? He already promised it will be paid in one shot to all Thais over 16 next February.  555.

 

The latest suggestion from his committee was to reduce eligibility to 40 million Thais which is still a whopping 400 billion or 2.4% of GDP to fund somehow or another.  But cutting it down from 56 to 40 million means he will be cutting into the bone, given that so few Thais live significantly above the bread line. Cutting out 16 million of whom only 3 million pay income tax means cutting out 13 million who are too poor to pay income tax as well as another 2 million who earn only just enough to pay tax.  The committee has also suggested  restricted it to 16 million with income of less than 8,000 a month.   Limiting it to only very poor people will have multiplier effect of less than 1x, because they will not splurge on consumer goods.  They will just use it to buy their daily necessities which will not be possible in village shops not registered for VAT.  So they will sell their entitlement to chinese loan sharks at a discount to face value. 

 

The only positive thing is that PT will only be able to pitch a similar vote buying scam in future at the very poor who receive something from the digital wallet, if it happens at all.

 

 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin agreed to establish a dedicated team to effectively communicate details about the government’s flagship digital wallet scheme.

While scurrying around trying to figure out how to find the money to implement it and then make the payments.

[klauskunkel]

Quote

PM Srettha forms team to clarify digital wallet scheme amidst confusion

It's the scheme with the team

by the man with the plan

Edited November 1, 2023 by klauskunkel

[mancub]

Country is in dire need of a Robin Hood !

[PETERTHEEATER]

As I have noted before, the disbursement of this at the lowest level to rural communities and individuals is open to corruption wheter it is cash, coupons or vouchers.

[TimeMachine]

Can I get a piece of pie. As a visitor to Thailand I'm probably not able to, but in my defense I do provide thousands of dollars in supporting a few less well of Thai people by handing over cold hard cash for no reason other than to help people I like to help. Is that worth anything? Anything at all? To receive something back from Thai government would be so amazing. 

[connda]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Pichai had suggested that the digital wallet programme’s launch could be delayed until September next year due to a budget deficit,

Budget Deficit?  🤣 😁

So let's get this straight.  The Thai government, whose leaders promised the Thai public 10K per head if the Thai electorate would just do them the kindness of putting them into office, now plan to give the Thai public money that the government doesn't have?  So far so good? 
On top of that, Thailand will have to borrow to make up the deficit.  Of course, injecting 1/2 a trillion THB into the economy all at once is going to cause inflation to sky rocket.  Then in order to address the now screaming inflation the Thai central bank will need to raise interest rates.  Thai bonds tank and money finds a new home.  Expats make out like bandits on the exchange rates which the Thai government will attempt to tax.
Let's not even talk about when they push to go "cashless" nationwide to "Save the planet" or some such trope. 

"May you live in interesting times."  Yep.  That does sound like a curse. 
 

[connda]

2 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

But cutting it down from 56 to 40 million means he will be cutting into the bone, given that so few Thais live significantly above the bread line. Cutting out 16 million of whom only 3 million pay income tax means cutting out 13 million who are too poor to pay income tax as well as another 2 million who earn only just enough to pay tax.  The committee has also suggested  restricted it to 16 million with income of less than 8,000 a month. 

Next up they will say that any Thai woman with a farang husband will be cut from the benefit.

"Farang all rich people.  Walking ATM.  Thai wife with farang husband no need money.  Cut cut cut!" 

Yeah.  Can see that coming a mile away.  I'll know when it happens.  Wife will be watching TV in the kitchen and I'll hear her gentle, diminutive Thai voice exclaim,  "KWAI!!!"  🐃 
Actually that's toned down as my wife has picked up on my US Navy expletives over the last 15 years.  She's actually make references to "Richard"  🍆 and a commonly used US Navy term (that can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb) as to what Srettha can do with it. 

[Dogmatix]

15 minutes ago, connda said:

Budget Deficit?  🤣 😁

So let's get this straight.  The Thai government, whose leaders promised the Thai public 10K per head if the Thai electorate would just do them the kindness of putting them into office, now plan to give the Thai public money that the government doesn't have?  So far so good? 
On top of that, Thailand will have to borrow to make up the deficit.  Of course, injecting 1/2 a trillion THB into the economy all at once is going to cause inflation to sky rocket.  Then in order to address the now screaming inflation the Thai central bank will need to raise interest rates.  Thai bonds tank and money finds a new home.  Expats make out like bandits on the exchange rates which the Thai government will attempt to tax.
Let's not even talk about when they push to go "cashless" nationwide to "Save the planet" or some such trope. 

"May you live in interesting times."  Yep.  That does sound like a curse. 
 

What would happen is that they would issue domestic bonds to cover say 200 million of it. That is equivalent to 1% of GDP and would drain liquidity from the domestic banking system which only pays 0.5% on deposits, unchanged despite several interest rate hikes.  Depositors would scramble to get the government bonds that would pay a lot more than 0.5% and actually less risk than bank deposits which now have only limited deposit insurance. That would drain domestic liquidity and put upward pressure on interest rates. Thailand's sovereign rating would probably be adjusted down, increasing the cost of borrowing offshore by the government and corporates. This would offset some of the stimulus effect which is likely to have a multiplier effect of less than 1x in an economy of this type, vs the finance ministry's heroic assumption of 3x.  The ministry is relying on this projection to say the scam will be partly self funding through incremental VAT receipts in light of its huge multiplier assumption.  The failure of this projection would lead to a shortfall of funding and greater unplanned deficit. Yes, there would also be an inflationary effect which would reduce real GDP growth generated adjusted for inflation. 

 

It looks like a freight train slowing chugging towards a concrete wall. From a macro perspective borrowing money to create a multiplier of less than one is like burning money, as you are borrowing 100 baht to generate 70 baht of incremental GDP. 

[Dogmatix]

28 minutes ago, connda said:

Next up they will say that any Thai woman with a farang husband will be cut from the benefit.

"Farang all rich people.  Walking ATM.  Thai wife with farang husband no need money.  Cut cut cut!" 

Yeah.  Can see that coming a mile away.  I'll know when it happens.  Wife will be watching TV in the kitchen and I'll hear her gentle, diminutive Thai voice exclaim,  "KWAI!!!"  🐃 
Actually that's toned down as my wife has picked up on my US Navy expletives over the last 15 years.  She's actually make references to "Richard"  🍆 and a commonly used US Navy term (that can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb) as to what Srettha can do with it. 

 

You jest but they have no acceptable way to means test the tens of millions of Thais who would apply for it, if they have to exclude people.  Only 3 million pay tax.  You can start off by excluding all of them but tax after basic deductions starts at 25k a month which doesn't make you a rich person and is only the minimum wage promised by PT for college grads. So they will have to go much lower than that, if they want to get it down from 56 million people to 40 million as they said recently. 

 

Means testing for the Prayut government's hand outs for those with income of less than 8,333 a month has been horrific. They have to apply to BAAC Bank which had strict instructions to cut out as many as possible through interviews. This year they managed to cut out 5 million applicants and approved 14.6 million out of 19.6 people who applied.  The decisions have been arbitrary, often based on information given by village headmen or similar who told them stories about people they disliked having children living overseas or married to farangs.  My mother in law applied and got it the first year but the second year they were told to exclude more people and she was told by some youngish Thai chinese bank officer from another province that her financial situation was "comfortable" according their information which she refused to disclose and excluded her.  Many of her friends had similar experiences, including some who really didn't have any support from family. It is hard to imagine that means testing of this type would ingratiate PT to the electorate but let's see them try it.

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Dogmatix

[retarius]

Form committees and sub-committees, that Thai answer to every problem, never known to resolve any issue ever; but often provides more dough for those with their snouts in the trough.

[Lucky Bones]

Right on track to be Woopy Weed Mk2.

Expected shambles with not a smidgeon of a forward thinking brain cell.🙃🙃

[Lucky Bones]

8 minutes ago, retarius said:

Form committees and sub-committees, that Thai answer to every problem, never known to resolve any issue ever; but often provides more dough for those with their snouts in the trough.

I want to be on the advisory body to the sub committee.🙃🙃