The Thai Sang Thai Party (TST) has pledged to elevate Thailand’s digital economy by offering government subsidies to newcomers and investing in them for future growth opportunities.
Considering Bank of Thailand (BoT) figures from January, it could be said that not only have all Thais been included in the digital economy, but they are also actively involved in digital economic activities, Thakorn Tanthasit, secretary-general of the TST, said on Saturday.
As of January, there were approximately 97 million mobile banking accounts and 124 million e-money accounts, he said, citing BoT data.
On top of that, Mr Thakorn said, up to 47 trillion baht has been paid electronically, accounting for up to 90% of all payments made in the country.
“All these factors reflect Thailand’s solid foundation for digital economy development which the TST believes will bring better economic opportunities for all,” he said.
Mr Thakorn said the party aims to improve the digital economy ecosystem (DEE) to support the country’s digital economy growth.
With a decent DEE, he said Thai start-ups will have a good chance to grow digitally, while the new government will try to limit the risk of failure for these business operators and make it more convenient for them to grow.
“The new government will find potential start-up operators and provide them with convenient sources of funding for their business development and then jointly invest in them later,” he said.
“Prospective start-up operators could be any youth or students in all parts of the country. These start-ups might be categorised in groups such as online marketplaces, content providers and digital services,” he said.
The TST has also pledged to offer debt-strapped people a soft loan of between 5,000 and 50,000 baht without requiring them to provide a guarantor, said Mr Thakorn, adding the interest rate will be about 1% per month.
“This loan scheme is aimed at helping people who are struggling to make ends meet and aren’t really successful as they have too much debt to pay back,” he said.
The TST also intends to offer all students free tablets and a free internet connection, via never-before-used funding from the Ministry of Education’s Edtech Fund.