MFP to put digital wallet plan in crosshairs

More than 30 MPs are expected to debate the budget bill for the 2025 fiscal year on Wednesday and Friday at the main opposition’s Move Forward Party ( MPF), whose digital wallet handout initiative is scheduled to take center stage.

Parit Wacharasindhu, MFP official and party- record MP, said each MP had been assigned to rebuke the government on a range of issues, including the economy, politics and social problems.

He claimed that the bill’s budgetary allocations may provide for a better future for the nation. Although significant resources may be allocated for the government’s premier digital wallet flyer, spending on other tasks will become reduced, he said.

The budget attempts to divert money that has been allocated for other purposes and devoted to the digital wallet scheme. These issues will be raised during the debate”, Mr Parit said.

Danuporn Punnakanta, a spokesman for Pheu Thai, stated on Sunday that the government would support the digital wallet and that the cabinet ministers would explain how it would work to boost the economy.

He added that he was confident that the legislation would pass the first legislative hearing.

The cabinet approved a budget bill worth 3.75 trillion baht for the 2025 fiscal year, which will begin on October 1 and run until September 30th, according to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, on May 28.

Some 160 billion baht was earmarked to fund the government’s 500- billion- baht digital money handout scheme.

Additionally, he said, the cabinet approved a proposal to use 122 billion baht from the 2024 fiscal budget to pay for the scheme.

Of the 122 billion baht, 111 billion baht will come from a budget deficit while the rest will be diverted from the other parts of the 2024 spending, said Chalermphol Pensoot, director of the Budget Bureau.

Previously, the government said it also planned to use funds from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives ( BAAC ), worth 172 billion, as one of the three main sources of funding.

However, there will be legal repercussions if the BAAC approves a loan to finance the scheme. A problem arises because the law strictly enshrined the bank’s ability to only provide financial aid to farmers.

The budget for the current fiscal year, which began on Oct 1 last year, worth 3.48 trillion baht, was finally passed in April after the lengthy process of forming a new government.