BANGKOK, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government's "taste, shop, spend" campaign has been extended to the second phase for three million more people to enjoy, said Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana on Tuesday.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved the second phase of the campaign, primarily designed to stimulate domestic consumption and promote domestic tourism among the people until the end of this year, Uttama confirmed.
The second phase of the campaign is for three million more people to be given 1,000 baht (about 33 U.S. dollars) each since they did not register for the first phase during which a total of 10 million people did.
The second phase of the campaign will not only provide the sum of 1,000 baht in G-Wallet 1 system for each recipient to spend at designated restaurants, stores and lodging facilities as provided during the first phase but a maximum of 4,500 baht (about 148.50 U.S. dollars) in refund in G-Wallet 2 system for additional expenditure out of the recipient's pocket, according to the finance minister.
Nevertheless, all recipients are obliged to only spend the government's money in the provinces which are not the ones shown on their ID card in effort to make them domestic travelers during year-end periods.
The government has expected the grant money totaling about 13 billion baht (about 429 million U.S. dollars) to get circulated and spur domestic consumption by three to four times as much in value.
