Despite one year in office, the government has yet to honour its pledge to improve social welfare for millions of struggling Thais.
On April 30, a subcommittee comprising representatives from both the government and civil society agreed that state subsidies for children, women, people with disabilities, and the elderly should be increased.
“But the current administration has yet to approve the increase,” said Nitirat Sapsomboon, a coordinator for WeFair, a civil society network that campaigns for better social welfare.
“To date, we have not seen any sign that the government will answer our demand.”
What do campaigners want?
Nitirat complains that the Pheu Thai-led government has no policy on state welfare despite 3.8 million families in Thailand living below the poverty line, earning less than 2,998 baht per month.
“The government should upgrade the assistance it provides to the vulnerable. This is how we can bridge gaps in our society,” the activist said.
According to the World Bank, Thailand suffers from the highest level of inequality in the East Asia-Pacific region, with just 10% of the population holding over 50% of the country’s wealth.
The subcommittee, which includes a minister and representatives from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, recommended that the government provide 1,000 baht a month as childhood allowance for each of the 4 million children in Thailand.
Currently, the government has been providing an allowance of just 600 baht per month to 2.3 million children from poor families, and only until they turn six.
It is also seeking to raise the monthly subsidy for physically disabled people from 800 to 1,000 baht and the elderly allowance from 600-1,000 baht a month (depending on age) to a flat rate of 1,000 baht.
Additionally, it has demanded that the government provide 3,000 baht monthly maternity payments for women between five and nine months pregnant.
“It will take the government just 59 billion baht to meet these four demands, which will benefit 17 million people. This amount of money is equivalent to only one-eighth of the budget needed to finance the government’s flagship digital wallet policy,” said Nitirat, referring to the 10,000-baht payments almost all Thai adults are set to receive under the spending stimulus scheme.
Is boosting welfare feasible?
Nitirat insists the government could honour the promise if it had the will to do so. The country’s 2025 central budget, after all, is worth over 800 billion baht.
“The government can use the budget to offer people better welfare,” he said.
Decharut Sukkumnoed, director of Think Forward Center, agrees that welfare should be upgraded in tune with the demands of civil society groups.
“We need to invest in people,” he said.
Decharut insisted the government should not flinch just because increased welfare is associated with a fixed cost. He pointed out that salaries of government officials are also fixed.
He also dismissed arguments that the stagnant economy meant the government should be focusing solely on economic affairs.
Thammasat University economics lecturer Asst Prof Dr Thorn Pitidol concurs that Thailand’s state welfare is deficient, pointing out that many needy children and disabled people still lack access to state-provided assistance.
“Economic woes have lingered because of the country’s structural problems. We have ignored human capital for too long,” he said at a Welfare State Dialogue event.
Thorn said if the government realised that welfare had a direct impact on economic health, it would worry less about the budget spent on increasing state welfare.
“When our welfare takes people forward, we see positive economic results,” the academic continued.
What does the government say?
Pheu Thai’s deputy secretary general Sriyada Palimaphan cites the economic situation as a reason why the government has not acted sooner on delivering its promise to boost state welfare.
“Our economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, so we are urgently pursuing economic development,” she said.
If the economy was good, she added, the country would be able to collect more tax to finance welfare provision.
She also insisted the government could not simply spend funds on increasing the four welfare payments since it has to keep money in reserve for emergencies such as flood relief operations.
Budget Bureau director Chalermpol Pensoot said the government’s budget plan for the next fiscal year would allocate up to 749 billion baht to welfare provision.
The budget plan has passed its first reading in Parliament and is scheduled for second and third readings this month.
Nitirat calculates that the draft budget allocates just 506 billion baht for social welfare. He said that money would support 66 million Thais, while a higher sum of 549 billion had been earmarked to cover welfare for just 4.4 million civil servants.
“If you look at the records, you will see that the budget for civil servants’ welfare has risen significantly each year. The government always cites rising living costs as the reason for allocating more budget for civil servants’ welfare.
But in that case, why does it not think about the impacts of rising living costs on other people too?” he asked.
Nitirat said his group does not expect the government to lift people’s welfare to the same level as that for civil servants, but instead wants it to focus more on equal access to state welfare.
“And for the poor, the government should provide extra support,” he said.
Voice of the vulnerable
Pranom, a 65-year-old freelance housemaid, said she and her friends had been praying that the monthly subsidy for the elderly would rise to 1,000 baht.
“We don’t want the digital wallet, which only gives us a one-off payment,” she said.
Pranom’s heart sank when she discovered that the government’s budget plan for the next fiscal year, which will start on October 1, had allocated nothing for the subsidy hike.
Sunee Chaiyarot, who sits on a panel advocating a universal policy for infant welfare, said she could not understand why the government failed to deliver on its promise.
“The subcommittee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai had assured us that welfare would be upgraded in the 2025 fiscal year. But after we saw the budget’s details, we realised that would not happen,” she said.
By Thai PBS World’s General Desk
