The government spent over 8.65 billion baht in 11 weeks on the welfare cards after it rolled out the new subsidy scheme on Oct 1 to subsidise some expenses for low-income earners.
The amount was calculated from what welfare cardholders had spent on necessary goods, cooking gas and transportation from Oct 1 to Dec 17, Comptroller General's Department chief Suttirat Rattanachot said on Wednesday.
Of the total, 99.4% or 8.6 billion baht was spent at Thong Fah (Blue Flag) Pracha Rat grocery stores, followed by 26 million baht on rail transport services, 19.7 million baht on interprovincial bus services and 2 million baht on cooking gas, she said.
The financial aid package worth 41.9 billion baht was earlier approved by the cabinet on Aug 29 to help some 11 million people who had registered as low-income earners countrywide.
