New Thai Prime Minister Scrutinizing $14 Billion Cash Handouts

(Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s key economic stimulus — almost $14 billion in cash payments to its citizens — will need further study to ensure compliance with the nation’s fiscal discipline law, newly appointed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• A Floating Island in Baltimore Raises Hope for a Waterfront Revival

• ‘Train Lovers’ Organize to Support Harris and Walz in Presidential Bid

• Part of Downtown Montreal Is Flooded After Water Pipe Breaks

• The Cross-Continental Race Using Only Public Transit

• Climate Disasters Are an Affordable Housing Problem

The change in economic condition is prompting further assessment and reviews, Paetongtarn, 37, told reporters Sunday. She was responding to reports that her father Thaksin Shinawatra is demanding that the new government drop the Pheu Thai party’s flagship policy during the election campaign last year.

Thaksin’s move was seen as a way to shield his daughter from any adverse fallout from the cash stimulus, which had become contentious even before it was implemented due to questions over funding. In 2017, a Thai court found former leader Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s sister, personally and criminally responsible for a policy to subsidize rice farmers.

“The digital wallet program must also comply with the fiscal discipline law, the details of the program must be clear with more opinions” from other parties including coalition partners, Paetongtarn said. Still, her Pheu Thai party views the program as the major stimulus for the Thai economy, she said.

Paetongtarn, who received a formal endorsement today from Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn to become the country’s youngest prime minister, denied reports that Thaksin demanded the abandonment of the program.

The cash handout was a key campaign promise of the Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party and the centerpiece of a push to help the economy grow annually at 5%. Yet disagreements including with the central bank and some lawmakers over how the massive stimulus will be financed — as well as the impact on inflation — have dogged its implementation.

The next administration will probably roll out more direct stimulus measures to replace the broad handout, local media reported.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Singapore's Wooden Building of the Future Has a Mold Problem

• Inside Worldcoin’s Orb Factory, Audacious and Absurd Defender of Humanity

• Surgeons Cut a Giant Tumor Out of My Head. Is There a Better Way?

• Sports Betting Is Legal, and Sportswriting Might Never Recover

• New Breed of EV Promises 700 Miles per Charge (Just Add Gas)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.