Total spending in the first month of the government’s “Thai Chuay Thai Plus” (Thais Help Thais) co-payment scheme reached 43.2 billion baht, with 1.2 billion remaining unspent, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.
Of the total amount, 18.4 billion baht came from consumer spending, comprising 18 billion spent at participating stores and 448 million spent through food delivery platforms, according to the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office (FPO).
Government contributions under the scheme totalled 24.8 billion baht, including 550 million disbursed via food delivery platforms.
The FPO said 1.07 million merchants had registered to participate in the four-month scheme that runs until Sept 30. A total of 1.03 million merchants had recorded actual transactions as of June 30.
Of the 26.04 million people approved to participate in the programme, 25.7 million have successfully used their entitlements, it said.
The data also showed that 12.4 million participants had exhausted their full monthly entitlement of 1,000 baht, leaving 13.6 million who had not yet reached the spending cap.
Under the Thai Chuay Thai Plus scheme, the government subsidises 60% of eligible spending on food, beverages, goods and designated public services, capped at 200 baht per person per day and 1,000 baht per person per month for a period of four months, from June 1 to Sept 30.
With government contributions totalling 24.8 billion baht as of June 30, officials estimate that 1.23 billion baht in allocated subsidy funds remains unused and will need to be returned to the state.
