The Finance Ministry might pump fresh money into the economy in the fourth quarter and extend stimulus measures in an effort to revive the nation, says Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.
He said the ministry wants to stimulate domestic spending in the fourth quarter as many economists and companies forecast a stagnant economy this year, attributed to the impact of the prolonged pandemic.
The government could consider handing out more money to people through existing stimulus packages, or extending existing stimulus measures to 2022 to cover the New Year and Chinese New Year, said Mr Arkhom.
He said the ministry will consider a proposal from companies to relaunch the tax rebate scheme "Shop Dee Mee Khuen" that was introduced last year.
Shop Dee Mee Khuen offered a tax deduction for individual taxpayers of up to 30,000 baht when purchasing certain goods or services.
Thanavath Phonvichai, president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, proposed a new version of the same scheme, this time offering a tax deduction of up to 50,000 baht to make it more effective at increasing domestic spending.
He estimated raising the tax deduction to 50,000 baht would cost the state tax revenue of between 7-10 billion baht, but would stimulate consumer spending of 50 billion baht.
Last week the cabinet approved raising the public debt-to-GDP ratio ceiling from 60% to 70%, which will allow further borrowing to rehabilitate the battered economy.
Mr Arkhom said the government needs cash to revive the flagging economy as the pandemic has yet to end and it is expected to take several years for the economy to recover.
He said the public debt-to-GDP ratio would reach 59% at the end of fiscal 2021 yesterday, up from 41% on Sept 30, 2019, before the outbreak began.
For fiscal 2022, the government plans to disburse 350 billion baht of the 500-billion-baht second emergency loan decree.
This disbursement should result in the public debt ratio surging to 62.7% by the end of fiscal 2022, said Mr Arkhom.
He insisted the government would have no problem repaying the debt.