The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) expects a new data lake system to improve the efficiency of screening state welfare card recipients.
According to Vinit Visessuvanapoom, director-general of the FPO, there are 13.2 million state welfare cardholders and the government plans to allocate around 50 billion baht annually for the programme.
Cardholders receive 300 baht monthly credited to their cards to purchase consumer goods, along with transport allowances for public transit and subsidies for water and electricity bills.
Mr Vinit said that in the 2026 budget plan, the government originally intended to review the eligibility of state welfare card recipients by using the Finance Ministry's data lake system, known as ARI Score.
This digital database links information from various agencies such as the electricity authorities, waterworks authorities and the Land Department, among others. The system can verify an individual's financial status to determine whether they qualify for the state welfare card. Qualifications include being a Thai citizen aged 18 or older and having an annual income not exceeding 100,000 baht.
Mr Vinit said screening via a digital system would reduce the number of eligible recipients, resulting in the fiscal 2026 budget allocation for the state welfare card programme being 20 billion baht lower than in previous years.
However, with no new registration process to reassess eligible recipients, the budget for the programme became insufficient, he noted.
The government supplemented the shortfall with money from the emergency loan decree. Funds obtained under the decree are considered to be part of the government's budgetary funding sources and can be legally used for such purposes.
"The emergency loan decree is legislation comparable to the Budget Act, and it serves as an additional source of funding for the budget," said Mr Vinit in response to opposition claims that the government could not use loan funds for the state welfare card programme.
On Tuesday, the cabinet approved the "Thais Help Thais Plus" project and assistance measures for vulnerable groups affected by the energy price crisis. The programme will use 176 billion baht from the 400-billion-baht emergency loan decree.
The project is divided into two parts, with the first a 60:40 co-payment scheme in which the government offers 4,000 baht per person to 30 million citizens, disbursed gradually at 1,000 baht per month over a four-month period.
The funds are intended to buy consumer goods, helping to ease the cost of living. Under the scheme, the government covers 60% of expenses, up to a maximum of 200 baht per day, with participants paying the remainder.
The second part adds 700 baht per month to the state welfare cardholder allowance, raising total monthly support to 1,000 baht for four months from June to September 2026.
