Second handout of gift cheques
10/06/2009

The Ministry of Finance will on Tuesday hand out the government's 2,000 baht gift cheques to workers who were not covered under the first round of the “Help the Nation Cheque” scheme.

More than 500,000 employees who earn no more than 15,000 baht a month at local administrative organisations, state enterprises, other organisations under the constitution, teachers at private schools and conscripted soldiers are eligible for the handout, Deputy Finance Minister Pluetthichai Damrongratana said on Wednesday.

The initial handout of second-round cheques will cost the government 1.07 billion baht, but the cash would give people money to spend and boost the domestic economy, he said.

Eligible organisations that had failed to provide details of their employees in time could still submit the required information to the ministry until June 23.

The second lot of cheques would be issued on June 30, the deputy minister said.

During the first round, the 2,000 baht cheques were given to 8.8 million workers across the nation, and 96% of them had cashed them at a commercial bank.

This meant that about 16.9 billion baht had been circulated in the system, he said.

bangkokpost.com