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Thailand approves US$748m support measures amid higher inflation
THAILAND’S Cabinet on Tuesday (Jul 26) approved additional support measures worth US$748.23 million to ease cost of living pressures and sustain consumption amid rising inflation, the finance ministry said.
The measures to run during September and October include 21.2 billion baht (S$801.6 million) for some 26.5 million people, or 800 baht each, under an existing scheme aimed at supporting consumer purchasing power, the ministry said in a statement.
The government will separately offer 400 baht to each of 13.34 million low-income earners with state welfare cards, totalling 5.3 billion baht. Some 892 million baht will be for 2.23 million people with special needs.
The support will help maintain purchasing power, with about 48.6 billion baht to be injected into the economy, lifting gross domestic product by 0.13 per cent this year, ministry spokesman Pornchai Theeravet, who also heads the fiscal policy office, said in a statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, the ministry maintained Thailand’s economic growth forecast at 3.5 per cent this year.
Headline inflation hit a near 14-year high of 7.66 per cent in June and the central bank is expected to raise interest rates next month to contain consumer prices.
The Cabinet also agreed on tax measures to support the use of electric vehicles (EVs) registered between October 2022 and September 2025, when more than 128,000 EVs are expected to be in use, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told a news conference.
The government also approved a 5 billion-baht soft loan programme to help smaller hotels reopen, a government spokesman said in a statement. REUTERS