The government’s Center for Economic Situation Administration approved the economic stimulus packages worth 68 billion baht to cut the cost of living and to hire about 260,000 new graduates.
The meeting of the Center for Economic Situation Administration Affected by Covid-19, chaired by Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha approved two main economic stimulus measures said Danucha Pichayanan, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council.
The first one is to give 3,000-baht cash handouts to people to buy consumer goods with the budget of 45 billion baht. It is aimed at stimulating domestic consumption and helping small entrepreneurs including hawkers and street vendors.
Under the campaign, the government will subsidize 50 per cent of spending for 15 million people by handing out not exceeding 3,000 baht in cash each. Participants will pay for the rest 50 per cent of goods they buy.
Eligible recipients have to register with the campaign and the money will be transferred through the Pao Tang app’s G-wallet app, similar to the Chim Shop Chai (Taste, Shop, Spend) scheme.
Initially, participants of the three-month campaign must be Thai nationals, aged over 18 years old. Their spending will be capped at about 100-250 baht per day.
The measure is expected to stimulate cash flow of about 90 billion baht in the economy.
About 80,000 participating shops will include grocery stores and street vendors.
The meeting also agreed that the Finance Ministry would work on the details and propose them to the center within two weeks before forwarding the campaign to the Cabinet for consideration. It is expected the project will be able to begin in October this year.
The second measure is to support the employment of the new graduates.
The government will give subsidies to employers for one year from October 2020 to October 2021 to pay for salaries.
This measure is aimed at generating jobs for new graduates, holding Vocational Certificate, Diploma/High Vocational Certificate and Bachelor Degrees with 260,000 positions available for them immediately.
The government will use the budget of 23 billion baht from the loan borrowed by the Finance Ministry to address the impacts of coronavirus pandemic.
It will subsidize 50 per cent of their monthly salaries based on their highest education level but not over 7,500 baht per person. (TNA)
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