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Thailand: Cash goes to 13.4m non-formal workers
Some 13.4 million non-formal workers have been approved for the monthly 5,000-baht cash handout from the government, with the screening process expected to be completed on May 17.
Of the total, 4.4 million recipients met the criteria on application, 5.3 million were required to provide additional information to the Finance Ministry and the remainder are those who made appeals, said Lavaron Sangsnit, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office.
The ministry will complete handing out the monthly cash subsidy to 11 million recipients within today, with the remaining 2.4 million due to receive their share by next week, he said.
There were 28.8 million registrants, but 4.4 million repeat applicants were removed. Of the 24 million applicants, 1.7 million were rejected because they failed to pass identity authentication based on the Provincial Administration Department’s database, leaving 22.3 million applicants to go through the qualification screening process.
The 5,000-baht cash handout scheme is part of relief measures directed at those affected by the pandemic and the state’s containment measures. The monthly stipend will run for three months, from April to June, to temporary workers, contract employees and self-employed workers who are not covered by the Social Security Fund’s Section 33.
The cabinet recently approved raising the number of recipients for the handout to 14 million from 9 million, bringing the budget to 210 billion baht.
Mr Lavaron said complaints made via the Finance Ministry’s call centre included discrepancies in the names on applications and bank accounts.
The ministry’s efforts to rectify information in dozens of cases were futile, he said.
The best solution is for applicants to provide PromptPay accounts tied to citizens’ ID cards, Mr Lavaron said.
Those interested can apply for PromptPay service through ATMs or online channels.
Registration failure is another problem spotted among complaints filed by the cash handout scheme applicants. Some 1.7 million were denied due to the issue.
The Finance Ministry is seeking methods to help the 1.7 million applicants, Mr Lavaron said.
He said the ministry extended the appeal deadline to May 15 from May 8.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1914400/cash-goes-to-13-4m-non-formal-workers