Vendors have expressed satisfaction with the fourth phase of the “50-50” co-pay government stipend campaign, saying the program significantly boosts consumer spending power. The program will accept new user registrations starting Thursday (10 Feb).
Data reports have indicated that more than 24 million people have already reactivated their privileges under the 4th phase of the government’s “50-50” co-pay stipend program.
The 4th iteration of the program was launched on February 1st.
The program, which runs until the end of April, provides a state subsidy of 1,200 baht. It offers to pay half of eligible products and services from participating vendors at a daily limit of 150 baht. Eligible products and services include food, drinks, general commodities and spa, haircut, manicure and pedicure services, to name a few.
Local media previously reported that people have generally been traveling more since the program debuted, reviving the overall tourism industry following a long period of decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data also showed that, as of February 7th, 20.4 million users already made spendings worth a combined value of 14 billion baht. Of that figure, 7.1 billion baht was spent by the participants with 6.92 billion baht paid by the program. Most of the purchases were on food and drinks at 5.2 million baht, followed by products from the Blue Flag store, OTOP vendors, general stores, service vendors and transportation.
Businesses noted that more people were willing to make purchases, particularly following the launch of the fourth phase of the stipend project on February 1.
Those who have yet to register for the program can do so this Thursday via the “Pao Tang” government e-wallet mobile application or on the website www.คนละครึ่ง.com. A total of one million users will be added to existing users from the previous phases.
Approximately 24.51 million people have already claimed their privilege. The previous phase had about 26.35 million users. Nearly 1.33 million vendors joined the new phase of the program, only 166 of which were new vendors.
Officials reminded users from the previous program that they can simply claim their right to join the program by hitting the confirmation button on the Pao Tang government e-wallet mobile application. New users can register for the initiative tomorrow (February 10) on the website www.คนละครึ่ง.com. The program will accept only 1 million new participants in this phase.
Participants must make at least one purchase before the end of this month to retain their privileges.
