BANGKOK – The second phase of the government’s Chim, Shop, Chai (Taste, Shop, Use) economic stimulus scheme, continues to receive positive feedback from the public, with registrations being completed within a few hours of becoming available.
After the first registration slot for 500,000 applicants opened at 6 a.m. yesterday (Oct 24), the quota was filled by 7:18 a.m. The second registration slot for another 500,000 applicants opened at 6 p.m. and was full by 7:51 p.m. This morning, the quota of 500,000 registrants was reached by 9:34 a.m.
The campaign offers participants 1,000 baht per person in electronic money stored in a g-Wallet 1 balance. The money can be used for eligible purchases at stores in the scheme. More money can be deposited to top up the balance, from which eligible payments will earn cashback rewards, on purchases up to 30,000 baht, with the maximum cashback amount capped at 4,500 baht.
An additional 20% in cashback rewards is also offered for purchases made from topped up cash in the g-Wallet 2 balance. They are being made for purchases that exceed the first 30,000 baht, up to 50,000 baht. The maximum cashback offer is capped at 4,000 baht per person. This cashback reward was also offered to the first 10 million applicants in the campaign’s first phase.
The Director-General of the Comptroller General’s Department, Poomsak Aranyakasemsuk, said today a total of 177,655 vendors signed up for the first phase of the Chim Shop Chai campaign and they don’t have to register again. The registration deadline is December 31 this year.
Mr. Poomsak said the government had transferred 9 billion baht in total to vendors who signed up for the first phase of the campaign. Of this amount, 8.8 billion baht was accrued from the 1,000 baht cash handout, and 206 million baht was as a result of the cash rebate program. About 1.31 billion baht was spent on products and services in the Chim (Taste) category. Five billion baht was spent on products and services in the Shop category, and 124 million baht was spent on products and services in the Chai (Use) category. In addition, 2.56 billion baht was spent at general stores.
