Social distancing is practiced at a mobile phone store in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand has unveiled athree-month stimulus package worth 51 billion THB (1.63 million USD) to boostdomestic consumption and support the COVID-19-hit economy.
The stimulus package, introduced by Thailand'sCentre for Economic Situation Administration, will cover 24 million mainlylow-income people via two schemes.
In the first scheme, 14 million welfarecardholders will receive an extra monthly discount of 500 THB from October toDecember on their shopping. The budget for this scheme is 21 billion THB.
In the second scheme, worth 30 billion THB, 10million people will get daily discounts of up to 50 THB on food, beverages andhousehold essentials, excluding alcohol, tobacco or lottery tickets. Thesubsidy is capped at 3,000 THB per person. Thai citizens aged 18 or over canregister online.
Registration is scheduled to open on October 16.
Despite the country’s relatively effectivecontainment of COVID-19, the pandemic’s impact on the Thai economy hasbeen more severe than expected and economic recovery remains elusive, withannual GDP poised to shrink by 8 percent, according to the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB).
The economy contracted 12.2 percent in thesecond quarter compared to the same period last year, the sharpest fall sincethe Asian financial crisis in 1998./.
VNA
