Online registrations for the government's digital wallet handout scheme, which has now closed, has seen only 36 million people sign up, falling short of the target of 45 million.
As a result, the government has saved 100 billion baht in the project’s budget, according to the Finance Ministry.
But when asked whether the relatively low registration numbers were due to a lack of public confidence in the handout scheme, finance permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit did not respond.
According to Mr Lavaron, 36 million people registered to join the digital wallet programme, which closed on Sept 15, well below the anticipated 45 million. The Finance Ministry will not extend the registration period, as those eligible were given one and a half months to register, he said.
The government initially estimated that around 50 million people across the country would be eligible to receive the 10,000-baht digital wallet handout, based on criteria such as having an annual income of no more than 840,000 baht, bank savings of no more than 500,000 baht, and being at least 16 years old. However, the Finance Ministry expected that about 45 million people would actually utilise the benefit.
The government decided to first distribute the funds to 12.4 million state welfare cardholders and 2.1 million holders of disability cards, totalling 14.5 million people.
For those who registered but are not part of these two groups, the government will consider an appropriate timeline to distribute the funds to them in the next phase of the scheme.
'No shortage of funds'
Regarding the registration of people who do not own a smartphone, Mr Lavaron said the deadline, initially Sept 16, had been postponed.
He attributed the delay to the fact that the Finance Ministry needs to clear up the registration numbers, as there are overlaps between those in the state welfare card and disability card groups and those who registered previously. It is estimated that around 3 million people do not own a smartphone.
Mr Lavaron clarified that the government's decision to prioritise the distribution of funds to state welfare cardholders and disability cardholders did not mean there was a shortage of funds. The government has allocated the necessary budget for the project for both the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. For the 2025 budget, the government has earmarked 186 billion baht for this initiative, he said.
Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said he expects that around 40 million people will be eligible for the digital wallet programme.
He said the reason that the number of registrants for the scheme is lower than the originally expected 45 million is partly due to some individuals finding it inconvenient to register, and some may not know how to register.
Mr Pichai also said that initially, from the estimated 36 million people who registered through the Tang Rat app and the 14.5 million vulnerable individuals who will be prioritised for the programme, there are likely to be some duplicate registrations. Therefore, after eliminating the duplicates, it is expected that around 40 million people will be eligible to receive funds from this scheme, he said.
