A majority of Thais surveyed credit the government's ‘Thai Chuay Thai Plus’ co-payment scheme with effectively easing their daily financial burden, though more than half use their monthly allowance within the first two weeks of the month, according to a recent poll by the King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).
The KPI Poll, conducted between July 10 and 13 among 2,000 respondents aged 18 and older nationwide, revealed that 87.4% of participants felt the program alleviated their living costs to some degree. 51.4% stated it helped a lot or quite a lot, while 36.0% felt it helped somewhat, but not enough. 10.5% reported little to no benefit from the initiative.
Optimism was highest in the north and south, where 65.6% and 65.3% of respondents respectively felt the program significantly reduced their living expenses.
Urbanites in Bangkok and residents in the Northeast were, however, less satisfied, with 40.6% and 45.0% respectively stating the aid was not enough, a disparity the KPI attributes to regional differences in income levels and living costs.
Public opinion remains divided over the program's financial framework, which currently requires the government to cover 60% of purchases while the citizen pays 40%.
While a 40.8% plurality deemed the 60:40 split appropriate, a combined majority advocated for changes.
About 18.8% called for direct cash handouts instead of a co-payment system, 18.0% wanted the state to cover a larger share and 16.7% preferred a return to the previous 50:50 ‘Khon La Khrueng’ format.
Regionally, the 60:40 model enjoyed the strongest backing in the east, at 74.4%, whereas the northeast stood out as the only region where a near-majority (46.1%) demanded an increase in the taxpayer subsidy proportion.
The poll also highlighted the rapid consumption of the subsidies, driven by essential daily needs. An overwhelming 95.5% of respondents spent their funds on staples, with 53.9% purchasing food and beverages and 41.6% buying daily necessities.
Consequently, 40.0% of users exhausted their monthly quota within the first two weeks, and another 18.2% burned through it within the first five days. Only 36.5% managed to spread their allowance across the entire month, while a negligible 3.3% left their balances unused.
The KPI concluded that, while ‘Thai Chuay Thai Plus’ scheme successfully targets the essential expenditures of the population, the rapid depletion of funds underscores heavy pressure from daily living costs.
The institute urged the government to look beyond the subsidy ratio and evaluate the adequacy of the allowance amounts, the flexibility of spending conditions and how to tailor future relief to fit the economic realities of different income groups and regions.
