BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s government wants to lift economic growth above its target of 3% this year and is confident a strong first half will be followed by momentum from the rollout of the next phase of its signature stimulus programme, finance officials said on Monday.
The government has prepared 150 billion baht ($4.4 billion) for stimulus that will be used up to the end of the third quarter, partly for its “digital wallet” scheme, said Paopoom Rojanasakul, a deputy finance minister.
The government is expecting an uptake of more than 40 million people in the programme, the key plank of the ruling party’s election platform, which entails handouts of 10,000 baht ($300) via a smartphone application to spend locally.
The next phase of the programme will target 2.7 million people age 16-20 and will begin in the second quarter, Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said after a meeting of the economic stimulus policy committee on Monday.
The government is also targeting export growth of more than 4%, and a weaker baht would help meet that goal, Pichai told reporters.
The economy grew 3.2% in the final quarter of 2024 from a year earlier and expanded 2.5% over the whole year, less than expected and lagging peers.
The government is pinning its hopes on its vaunted stimulus programme to jumpstart an economy that has struggled since the pandemic, but the central bank governor has said consumption remains a problem, noting that not all of the handouts were spent in earlier phases, with some used to pay off loans.
(Reporting by Thanadech Staporncharnchai, Kitiphong Thaichareon and Chayut Setboonsarng; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by John Mair)
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