FPO says 14.1m received handout

Some 14.1 million people classified as vulnerable have received the government’s 10,000-baht cash handout, according to the chief of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO).
Pornchai Thiraveja, director-general of the FPO and spokesman for the Finance Ministry, said the government transferred 10,000 baht to a total of 14,407,357 recipients, injecting 144 billion baht into the economy.
He urged those who received the payment to plan their spending wisely and use it to benefit themselves and their families.
According to Mr Pornchai, there are still eligible recipients for this first phase of the cash handout who have not met the programme’s conditions, including people with expired disability cards or those who have not linked their accounts with the PromptPay system.
To ensure these eligible recipients can receive the stimulus, the ministry opened a retry payment round on Oct 21.
On Oct 21, the Comptroller-General’s Department ordered retry payments to be made to 414,908 eligible state welfare cardholders and disabled persons. This includes those who did not receive a payment during the previous round, and those who renewed or updated their disability card information.
However, in this retry round, 64,892 payments were still unsuccessful for various reasons, such as closed bank accounts or accounts not being linked to the PromptPay system.
Mr Pornchai said after another retry effort in November, payments to the targeted group will be terminated, and it will be assumed this group does not wish to receive funds under the programme.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said recently the government is committed to moving ahead with the second phase of the handout scheme, offering the same 10,000 baht per person.
He said he was unsure whether the payment will be as a lump sum or via instalments because the ministry does not yet have a time frame for when the second phase will start.