Thailand’s poorest hail US$14 billion cash handout scheme - ‘we can breathe’

Critics say the move to give Thailand’s poorest a US$300 cash subsidy papers over structural issues that are holding back the economy

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Farmers working the fields in Isaan region, Thailand. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:26pm, 4 Oct 2024Updated: 6:31pm, 4 Oct 2024

Cooking oil, rice and fertiliser were the first purchases made by 74-year-old Sopak Ruangsang with her 10,000 baht (US$300) cash subsidy, one of the 14.5 million poorest people in Thailand to benefit from an initial round of the kingdom’s biggest ever direct handout.

Sopak next paid down debts and helped neighbours in her close-knit community in Isaan region who did not qualify for the cash handout this time around.

“After that, I helped pay for my grandchildren’s school fees and that’s pretty much all of it gone,” she told This Week in Asia.

Others who received the cash across the country spent it to have a good time, sharing videos on social media of boozy parties, which ran through the weekend, raising the eyebrows of cabinet members.

Still, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on September 25 that the first phase of an ambitious US$14 billion handout scheme had created “a tornado of spending”, mostly in the poorest parts of Thailand.

Her government says once the stimulus is complete over two more rounds, it will spur economic growth, with an expected surge to 5 per cent by next year. In 2023, Thailand’s economy grew at 1.9 per cent, lagging its regional peers.