The cabinet has approved 18.8 million low-income individuals for eligibility screening for the state welfare card programme.
Speaking after yesterday's cabinet meeting, Vinit Visessuvanapoom, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesperson for the Finance Ministry, said the cabinet approved the inclusion of 12.7 million existing welfare cardholders who completed the rights confirmation process, and 1.05 million people who were missed in previous surveys conducted by the Interior and Social Development and Human Security ministries, as well as 5.04 million additional people identified through a new survey conducted by the Interior Ministry.
The Finance Ministry will submit the names of all 18.8 million applicants to the Pracharath Welfare Fund Committee for eligibility screening, based on the prescribed criteria, on Thursday, said Mr Vinit, with the list of eligible beneficiaries announced on Friday.
The results are going to be provided via four channels: the Pracharath Welfare Fund website, the Paotang app, the Tang Rat app, and five state-owned banks: Krungthai Bank, Government Savings Bank, Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Government Housing Bank, and Islamic Bank of Thailand.
Existing welfare cardholders who successfully confirm their eligibility can continue using their benefits from Aug 1.
Those who are newly approved in this round can start using their benefits from Oct 1.
The Finance Ministry is allowing applicants who fail the screening process to file an appeal to review their eligibility from July 17-31.
Mr Vinit said while the number of beneficiaries has increased, it will not create budgetary problems as the ministry prioritises providing assistance to people experiencing hardship.
The government previously allocated around 45 billion baht per year to fund the state welfare card programme.
Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved ministry proposals to remove two disqualification criteria: parents whose children claim a parental tax deduction on their annual income tax returns, and farmers with agricultural loans exceeding 100,000 baht.
These conditions were removed because, in some cases, farmers affected by natural disasters accumulated debts exceeding 100,000 baht through no fault of their own.
