The National Bank is concerned about making a digital wallet worth 10,000 baht, not drawing enough money from the budget to support emergencies: PPTVHD36

The Bank of Thailand sent a document of concerns and suggestions, including the need for a 10,000 baht digital wallet project that would have an impact on the country’s fiscal stability.

By proposing that It should be made to cover only the target groups that need help, such as low-income groups or 15 million state welfare card holders. This can be done immediately with a budget of 150,000 million baht.

Because there is a higher proportion of consumption spending than other income groups. Buy more products within the country and do it in phased projects so as not to affect fiscal stability.

Resulting in a long-term fiscal burden, fearing that creditworthiness will be cut.

The 10,000 baht digital wallet project will create a long-term fiscal burden if the debt burden cannot be stabilized. It will increase the risk that the country’s credit rating will be downgraded, such as the rating of a world-class rating agency like Moody’s. If Thailand’s credit rating is downgraded, This will cause the cost of borrowing for the public and private sectors to increase. It may also affect investor confidence as a whole.

Risk of insufficient budget to support emergencies.

In addition, the 10,000 baht digital wallet project has a high budget, reducing the Ministry of Finance’s ability to implement other policies. There is a risk that there will not be enough budget to support emergencies. and increasing borrowing in the 2025 budget until it almost fills the legal framework. This leaves another loan limit of 5,000 million baht, while in previous years More than a hundred billion baht remaining The allocation of the fiscal year 2024 budget has reduced the central budget in case of emergencies or necessity to the point that it may not be sufficient to support emergencies. Under the global political situation and the high uncertainty of natural disasters.

Propose projects that solve long-term structural problems.

However, the Bank of Thailand It is proposed that the budget of 500,000 million baht be used to invest in projects that will solve long-term problems, such as developing medical personnel, free education for 15 years for students. Nakhon Pathom-Chumphon double track railway project Blue Line Project, etc.

Worried about using the wrong budget

In addition, he mentioned the budget from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) of more than 170 billion baht, saying that there should be legal clarity that The objective of BAAC Bank according to Section 9 and Section 10 is to specify a mechanism for top-up money for farmers clearly separated from top-up money for the general public. and clearly limit the scope of spending According to the objectives of the BAAC Bank according to Section 9 and Section 10 as well, in order to prevent the budget from being in the wrong category. Therefore, it should be discussed with the Council of State. Same as Government Savings Bank

The government still owes another 800,000 million baht to the BAAC.

At the same time, the government still has another 800,000 million baht in debt to the BAAC, which may cause significant liquidity risks and risks to the BAAC’s operating position.

Concerned about the security of financial transaction data through the Open-loop system.

In addition, the Bank of Thailand I also want to consider the system of using applications that are open or open-loop in order not to pose a risk to the country’s payment system. data security Transaction access and strict protection against cyber threats Spending without interruption

Including an identity verification system Including the Open-loop system development team should have a lot of expertise in payment systems and spend more than 1 year in continuous development.

The last thing is to prevent leaks or corruption, such as checking income. Qualifications of project participants Protect against fake shops Type and size of stores participating in the project Prohibited goods Preventing the sale of rights, etc.

The 10,000 baht digital wallet project is a complex project. Use a large budget causing an impact on the country’s fiscal burden in the long run and there is a risk of leakage or corruption in various steps This should be done with care and caution before presenting it to the Cabinet meeting.

But finally, the Cabinet resolution on April 23, 2024 approved the 10,000 baht digital wallet project in principle.