Arya News - Thailand’s Cabinet approved a 43-billion-baht (US$ 1.3billion) relief package on September 22, 2026. Deputy PM and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said the measures would ease energy-related living costs and help keep Thailand’s 2026 growth on track for 2.5%.
BANGKOK – Thailand’s Cabinet approved a 43-billion-baht relief package on September 22, 2026, extending Thais Help Thais Plus through November and raising welfare-card support for October. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said the measures would ease energy-related living costs and help keep Thailand’s 2026 growth on track for 2.5%.
Ekniti said renewed fighting in the Middle East had pushed up global crude oil, diesel and petrol prices, prolonging pressure on households. Thailand faced three waves of economic strain: energy costs, weakening purchasing power, and rising living costs and inflation. Ekniti put headline inflation at 2.5%, with producer prices up almost 10%.
The existing Thais Help Thais Plus programme provides 1,000 baht a month from June to September 2026 and has 26.04 million participants. Cumulative spending reached 164.470 billion baht by September 21, comprising 94.553 billion baht from the government and 69.917 billion baht from participants.
The Cabinet approved two forms of additional assistance:
1. State welfare cards: An extra 700 baht will raise the existing 300-baht allowance to 1,000 baht for October 2026. Planned coverage will increase from 13.1 million people to between 14 million and 14.5 million. New welfare entitlements begin on October 1, as set out in the government’s welfare-card notice.
2. Thais Help Thais Plus: Participants will receive an additional 1,000 baht in total for use from October 1 to November 30, 2026, under the approved two-month extension. Ekniti said some participants had not exhausted their allowances during the preceding three months.
Ekniti said the Thais Help Thais Plus target group would be adjusted from about 26 million to 25 million existing participants because 1 million people would move to the welfare-card programme. Adding 7.5 million people previously left out would take the co-payment scheme’s coverage to 32.5 million, with the two programmes together supporting up to 47 million people.
“All these measures will use the 44 billion baht remaining from existing borrowing for public relief. We will spend 43 billion baht, without allocating a new budget or drawing on the 200 billion baht earmarked for the energy transition,” Ekniti said.
Ekniti said Thailand needed to accelerate its energy transition to reduce dependence on imported oil and natural gas. The 200-billion-baht allocation would come under a framework for overseeing disbursement by the end of September.
Ekniti expects relief to support 2.5% growth in 2026
Ekniti said the Thais Help Thais Plus extension would help Thailand achieve its forecast economic growth of 2.5% in 2026. Ekniti put the additional economic boost from the two-month extension at 0.1–0.2%, and the programme’s contribution for 2026 at 0.4%.
Ekniti credited the rapid introduction of the borrowing decree with sustaining purchasing power and supporting growth. The finance minister also said Thais Help Thais Plus had eased household costs, helping keep Thailand’s second-quarter inflation peak at 2.9%, compared with 5–7% in several other countries, before inflation gradually declined.
Ekniti said discussions had also taken place with Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul about the Thai Tiew Thai Plus domestic tourism programme. The scheme had been planned for 2027, with possible funding from borrowing or the central budget.
Finance Ministry rules out using energy-transition funds
Finance Ministry permanent secretary Lavaron Sangsnit said the relief package would use only the first of two 200-billion-baht allocations under the borrowing decree. Slightly more than 44 billion baht remained in that first allocation, and no money would be transferred from the second, earmarked for the energy transition.
Lavaron said maintaining fiscal discipline was the government’s and Finance Ministry’s highest priority. The decision to extend assistance reflected worsening external conditions, renewed Middle East conflict and crude oil prices above US$100 a barrel, alongside the existing programme’s expiry in September 2026.
Lavaron said the Thais Help Thais Plus extension was therefore a response to continuing pressure on household living costs, rather than a decision driven simply by unspent funds.
The Finance Ministry would distribute assistance widely, particularly to welfare-card holders whose new entitlements begin on October 1, Lavaron said. Existing records would be checked again against revised criteria, while officials would visit every village to identify marginalised people who might have been missed.
Lavaron links Fitch’s outlook upgrade to crisis management
Lavaron said Fitch Ratings had revised Thailand’s outlook from Negative to Stable, attributing the change to the country’s effective handling of the energy crisis. Lavaron described the revision as recognition of the government’s commitment to strict fiscal discipline.
“The results from almost four months of the programme can be clearly explained on scientific grounds: it has boosted economic indicators by a further 0.38%,” Lavaron said.
Lavaron said artificial intelligence had also been incorporated into support for participating shops, helping businesses improve bookkeeping, manage stock and obtain credit more easily.
Welfare-card criteria widened as October support rises
Fiscal Policy Office director-general Vinit Visessuvanapoom said the Cabinet had approved revised welfare-card criteria alongside grassroots economic support, including an October allowance of 1,000 baht. Vinit said 9.5 million applicants had passed the initial eligibility screening, while another 5 million had requested a review.
The welfare-card eligibility changes provide exceptions for four groups:
1. Students: Welfare-card exemptions cover learners in the vocational education programme for rural development and those studying under the law on learning promotion.
2. Shareholders and company directors: Welfare-card exemptions cover people associated with registered social enterprises or community enterprises.
3. Securities and debt-security account holders: Welfare-card exemptions cover people with no remaining securities or holdings worth no more than 5,000 baht across all securities accounts. Debt-security holders are similarly exempt if they have no holdings or total holdings worth no more than 5,000 baht.
4. Vehicle owners: Welfare-card exemptions cover motorcycles more than 15 years old and cars, trailers and agricultural vehicles more than 20 years old, excluding high-value and collectible vehicles.
Vinit said eligibility-review results were due on September 30, 2026, and eligible Thais Help Thais Plus participants would receive a further two months of access under the 60/40 scheme. The existing co-payment group would comprise about 25 million people after around 1 million moved to welfare cards.
Vinit said 51% of Thais Help Thais Plus participants had not spent their full allowances over the preceding three months, with purchases concentrated on everyday food and drinks. Shops could continue registering until the end of November, while the merchant system linked to the Paotang app would be connected to support welfare-card users.
Ekniti says AI training lifts participating shops’ sales
Ekniti said discussions with private businesses and food-delivery platforms indicated that AI-assisted sales training had increased participating shops’ sales by 60–70%. Ekniti said shop revenues continued growing by 10–20% after the programme ended, describing the approach as giving people a “fishing rod” to earn a sustainable income.
Ekniti said the government was arranging credit through state-owned banks, including Government Savings Bank, with guarantees from the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation (TCG). Shops could use sales records from the Tung Ngern app, summarised with AI assistance, to apply for loans immediately without collateral, helping them move away from informal lenders.
TCG targets more than 100,000 firms with Nano Plus
Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation director and general manager Sittikorn Direksoonthorn said the Nano Plus credit-guarantee programme was expected to help more than 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises obtain loans. Flexible assessment criteria would make formal financing more accessible to businesses needing working capital starting from a few thousand baht.
Sittikorn said TCG would absorb part of lenders’ credit risk through a total guarantee allocation of 2 billion baht, beginning with 500 million baht in the first phase. Guarantees would run for no more than four years, with the TCG Score credit-scoring tool used to assess and manage risk.
TCG projected average lending of 20,000 baht per business, support for 146,000 jobs and economic benefits exceeding 9.86 billion baht from the Nano Plus guarantees, Sittikorn said.
Sittikorn outlined three main features of Nano Plus:
1. Nano Plus loan guarantees range from 5,000 to 50,000 baht per borrower.
2. Nano Plus guarantees last up to four years, with borrowers paying no guarantee fees throughout that period. Financial institutions and non-bank lenders would pay the risk-based fees.
3. TCG would compensate for non-performing loans under Nano Plus, subject to a ceiling of 5%.
Sittikorn said economic volatility and Middle East tensions had raised energy costs and weakened consumer purchasing power, leaving small businesses short of liquidity and working capital. Lending to small and medium-sized enterprises had contracted for 16 consecutive quarters.
Sittikorn said improving access to formal finance for micro-businesses, including market traders, vendors and self-employed people, had become a central government priority.
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