Welfare cards has slight effect on economy

BANGKOK, Oct 8 (TNA) -- One week after the introduction of electronic welfare cards, designed to help the poor to offset high cost of living, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) says the programme would stimulate the country’s general economy less than 0.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Assistant BoT governor Jaturong Jantarang said the government-sponsored programme has created psychological effect by building a spending atmosphere in Thailand. However, it would stimulate general economy less than 0.1 per cent of GDP because some of the programme are taken from the previous, existing projects such as free travelling by bus and train for low-income earners. Mr Jaturong noted that the electronic welfare card programme is different from the recently launched ‘9101 project’, designed to improve the life of farmers, which has some 20 billion baht and will be circulated to community people in third and fourth quarter this year and is expected to improve GDP by 0.1 per cent. The BoT’s Monetary Policy Committee said future purchasing power in Thailand is still weak, resulted from poor exports which has affected employment and income of workers. It said low-income workers comprise as much as 50 per cent of total workforce. Soaring household debt is another problem which depresses purchasing power in the country, said the Committee. The new amendment of Procurement Law could curtail disbursement in community areas due to misunderstanding among members of the community organisations. If the misunderstanding continues a long time, it could delay disbursement for certain major projects in the area. (TNA)