Bangkok Post – Digital wallet funds delayed for review

A portion of the 2025 national budget earmarked for the government’s digital wallet scheme is likely to be put back for deliberation by the special House committee vetting the budget bill in a week or two, said Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.

Mr Julapan, who serves as vice chairman of the 72-member committee, was commenting on the panel’s decision on Wednesday to “suspend” its scrutiny of a request for 152.7 billion baht to be sourced from the budget’s central fund to finance part of the flagship digital wallet programme.

According to a social media post by Move Forward Party (MFP) list-MP and committee member Sirikanya Tansakul, the panel has suspended the requested deliberation pending more information.

She said that the request for 152.7 billion baht only has a one-page document attached to it, and the budget has to be allocated from the central fund because no agency has yet been designated to oversee it.

Mr Julapun, who presided over the June 26 meeting, admitted yesterday that the budget request lacked details and said a representative from the Finance Ministry was not well-equipped to answer the questions.

The representative was assigned to explain the issue on behalf of the finance permanent secretary, who had to attend a meeting with the prime minister, he noted.

He said he decided to ask the Finance Ministry to come back with complete information although he, as deputy finance minister in charge of the digital wallet scheme, had information and could answer the committee’s questions.

“I’m also an MP, so I have to respect the committee members. Having complete information is also important, so we won’t proceed until it’s clear. So I asked the finance permanent secretary [Lavaron Sangsnit] to answer the questions in person and provide complete information,” he said.

Mr Julapan said there is no specific time frame for when this portion of the budget would be back for the committee’s consideration, but it should be considered in one or two weeks.

He also noted that it is normal for the House committee to suspend deliberation of any item if the information provided is incomplete. He also expressed confidence that the handout scheme would be rolled out as planned.