Supplementary budget bill sails through SenateFood vendors register for the digital money handout scheme in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok, on Aug 1. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)The supplementary bill, which seeks to increase the budget for the current fiscal year by 122 billion baht to partially fund the government's digital wallet handout scheme, sailed through all three readings in the Upper House on Tuesday. In the debate before Tuesday's vote on the bill, several senators expressed doubts over whether the digital handout scheme would work as claimed by the government. Speaking in the Upper House, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin defended the 122-billion-baht supplementary bill, saying the need to inject money to stimulate and strengthen the economy was too urgent for the government to wait until the 2025 fiscal budget comes. Considering Thailand's slow economic growth, which is coupled with high household and corporate debt and an extremely volatile world economic situation, the government is in urgent need of a budget to fund its efforts to stimulate economic growth, the PM said.
