Village funds seen as grass-roots economy booster

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Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, has convened a meeting with relevant bodies across the country to discuss the issuance and management of village funds.

The government has approved a budget of 35 billion baht for the village fund project. Each community will receive up to 500,000 baht which will be spent on the infrastructure development.

Provincial governors, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the presidents of village funds will jointly manage the cash. The scheme is expected to stimulate the local-level economy.

More than 76,000 communities are eligible for the funds. Around 38,000 of them have requested financial assistance for more than 50,000 infrastructure projects. The cash distribution is expected to begin this month.

Natee Khlibtong, director of the National Village and Urban Community Fund said officials would speed up the study of all remaining projects so that they could begin before September.