The government's 2,000-baht cheque handout is expected to increase economic growth by around 0.2 percentage points, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij says.
Bangkok Bank employee shows sample cheque.
The 18-billion-baht programme would help potentially save 80,000 to 100,000 jobs this year, he said, based on estimates by the Finance Ministry.
Over 9 million Thais earning less than 15,000 baht a month will begin receiving the cheques as of today.
The first lot of 5.5 million cheques today will be , followed by another 1.2 million cheques on March 31 and the rest on April 8.
Bangkok Bank is issuing the cheques on behalf of the government.
Those eligible for the money include members of the Social Security Fund, civil servants, teachers, soldiers and state enterprise workers.
The government is hoping up to 90% of the money will be spent quickly to help boost the flagging economy.
The Finance Ministry yesterday lowered its 2009 growth forecast to -2.5%, marking the first contraction of the economy since the Asian financial crisis.
Retailers and shopping malls have announced sales to help attract recipients of the cheques.
Mr Korn yesterday said the programme was a one-time measure.
"We hope consumer spending will increase immediately and have an impact on the economy in the second and third quarters of the year," he said.
The minister said the government was studying ways to help more workers enter the state social security programme.
Only a third of the country's labour force of more than 30 million are registered with the Social Security Fund, with workers in the informal sector, farmers and the self-employed outside the state-supported system.
Teera Aphaiwongse, a senior executive vice-president with Bangkok Bank, said his bank had worked with the Bank of Thailand to ease the cheque clearance process during the handout.
He said cheque recipients could cash their cheques at any of the bank's 900 branches.
Source: Bangkok Post
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