The cabinet has agreed to extend the "Ying Chai Ying Dai" scheme aimed at spurring public spending, according to the government spokesman team.
The adjustment was approved at Tuesday's cabinet meeting along with expanding the state-sponsored relief package to cover Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Ayutthaya, which were added to the 10 provinces hardest-hit by Covid-19 and are under lockdown.
Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said the cabinet has given the green light to extend the Ying Chai Ying Dai (the more you spend, the more you get) scheme originally effective from now until the end of September to the end of November.
The scheme provides users with cashback e-vouchers for domestic purchases, encouraging people to purchase food, products and services at participating shops through the Krungthai Bank Pao Tang mobile application.
Participants will receive vouchers in their Pao Tang e-wallets at a rate of 10-15% of spending, with a maximum limit of 10,000 baht per person. The e-voucher caps the amount it uses to calculate the cashback received at 5,000 baht daily, regardless of the daily amount spent.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) earlier suggested that the complicated terms and conditions of the Ying Chai Ying Dai scheme should be removed.
The spokesman said the target for the scheme has been substantially reduced from four million people to 1.4 million. This leads to a downsizing of the budget to be spent on the programme from 28 billion baht to 9.8 billion baht.
The TCC suggested the cashback scheme be transformed into a project similar to the "Shop Dee Mee Khuen" scheme that offers a tax deduction for individual taxpayers of up to 30,000 baht when purchasing goods or services.
The fall in spending through the scheme is caused by the lockdown which has forced many department stores and restaurants to shut.
