The Thai Retailers Association has proposed that the government revive the “Shop Dee Mee Kuen” (shopping with refunds) scheme to encourage consumer spending during the last two months of the year
The association’s chairman, Yon Pokesap, said on Tuesday that the weeks leading up to the New Year are an ideal time to encourage people to spend, pointing out that spending is already starting to grow after the easing of lockdown restrictions.
He suggested that the best time to launch the scheme would be between November 15th and the end of December, so that the spending can be used as a tax deductible.
The scheme, he said, will cover other groups of consumers as well, including those who have subscribed to other government stimulus schemes, such as the 50:50 co-payment and “Ying Chai Ying Dai” (the more you spend, the more you get) schemes.
Yon also said that the government should increase the individual’s amount of spending allowable under this proposed scheme from 30,000 baht to 200,000 baht which, he estimates, will boost the shopping spend during the last two months of the year to about 400 billion baht, which may increase Thailand’s growth rate by 0.7-1%.
Although the government stands to lose 15-20 billion baht in tax revenues, Yon claims that the short-term gains from extra cash circulating in the economic system will boost economic recovery and more than compensate for the drop in tax revenue.
“We cannot wait for revenues from foreign tourists because the number of arrivals is still small,” said the association chairman, as he reminded the government not to miss this good opportunity to kick-start the economy.
