By Thai Newsroom Reporters
MOST SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED entrepreneurs would prefer the much-heralded, yet-delayed populist handout project use cash rather than digital wallets as planned by the ruling Pheu Thai, according to Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion acting director-general Panita Shinawatra.
Panita, a niece of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, said today (June 3) most small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs have found the 10,000-baht, digital wallet campaign practically complicated and less interesting and would prefer the populist handout project be only implemented with cash and without digital wallets for the sake of convenience to both recipient buyers and sellers of merchandise.
The acting OSMEP chief quoted last April’s opinion poll conducted with 2,704 small-and medium-sized entrepreneurs in all regions of the country as saying they would prefer to get cash rather than a complicated digital wallet system since they primarily need cash to do business such as the purchase of raw materials on a daily basis.
Some of the respondent entrepreneurs have indicated concern over future payments for personal or corporate income tax, given the Pheu Thai-initiated use of the digital wallet system, the acting OSMEP chief said.
Others have suggested that the Pao Tung (wallet) handout campaign earlier implemented by a previous government and found relatively easy for use by the people be carried out in lieu of the complicated digital wallet project, she said.
Remarkably, many of those entrepreneurs have feared most of the recipient customers will usually shop at convenience store chains such as the ubiquitous 7-11s, practically leaving rival stores operating at loss.
An estimated 50 million Thai nationals aged 16 years or over are entitled to the populist handout project under which each may buy a maximum of 10,000 baht worth of merchandise via their digital wallet at stores, food shops and restaurants in their home district within a six-month period, scheduled to begin in the last quarter of this year.
The Pheu Thai-led government has reportedly planned to cover an estimated 500 billion baht in expenditure on their digital wallet project with 175 billion baht in government budget for the current fiscal year and 152.7 billion baht for the next fiscal year, plus 172.3 billion baht in “borrowed” money from the Bank for Agriculture & Agricultural Cooperatives.
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Top and Front Page: Representative images of the 10,000 baht handout project. Top photo: Sanook.com, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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