In Thailand, the local digital wallet plan suddenly faced a transformation that reduced what could be called the virtual component of the content of the relevant strategy.
This week, the media reported that the Prime Minister of the mentioned country, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, said that the government’s planned handout of digital wallets worth 450 billion baht ($13.1 billion) will be carried out in cash. In this case, there is, in a certain sense, a fundamental change in the policy of the Thai government. It is also worth noting that the use of cash largely contradicts the very idea of a digital wallet as a functional unit designed to solve certain tasks in a virtual dimension.
The Thai government’s initial plan was to transfer 10,000 baht ($292) in credit to 50 million people. It is worth noting that in this case the amount is meant in terms of one person. Mentioned money, as suggested by the initial government plan, Thai residents were supposed to spend in their communities using a smartphone app to make purchases within six months.
It is worth noting that according to media reports, cash can only make up part of the specified funds. At the same time, it is not yet known exactly what amount is meant in this case.
The stimulus measures, which were a kind of semantic platform of the ruling Pheu Thai party during the election race, are intended to become a source of accelerating the development of Thailand’s economic system, lagging behind the condition of similar systems in some other Asian countries. In the second quarter of the current year, the local economy showed growth of 2.3%. At the same time, analysts interviewed by the media say that uncertainty about fiscal policy is clouding the prospects for the mentioned growth.
The experts who spoke to the journalists agree with each other that the handout program announced by Bangkok is fiscally irresponsible. It is worth noting that among the interlocutors of the media representatives were two former heads of the central bank of Thailand. Experts who spoke with journalists also noted that the mentioned program, which is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of the current year, was postponed due to funding problems.
It is worth noting that uncertainty regarding the prospects for innovative transformation of the fintech environment in Thailand still persists. Although the local government has specific plans to move forward in the context of the mentioned environment, such intentions may be changed, postponed, or canceled altogether. Thailand’s economic system, demonstrating an upward trajectory, nevertheless continues to be in the space of impact of problems and adverse factors. However, despite the difficulties associated with the implementation of the country’s financial industry scaling digitalization plan, residents demonstrate a high level of interest and significant enthusiasm for expanding the adoption of virtual payment transactions. At the same time, Thailand has already demonstrated certain results in the relevant environment. For example, in 2022, according to the results of industry surveys, the country was the leader in the number of real-time payment transactions per capita among all the surveyed states. The corresponding payment method accounted for 34% of all financial operations made in Thailand in the mentioned year.
Currently, the PromptPay payment system is very popular among Thai consumers of financial services. There is a widespread opinion among experts that the practice of digital payment transactions will continue to spread in Thailand in the short and medium term. In this case, a situation is emerging in which the country’s fintech environment has generally optimistic prospects, despite economic difficulties, which make it problematic to implement government projects in the appropriate functional space.
According to preliminary forecasts, in 2027, Thai residents in 2027 will make 32 billion transactions related to the category of real-time payments.
It is worth noting that digital wallets are becoming more and more popular. The corresponding tendency is largely logical and natural because these virtual products provide such advantages to consumers of financial services as the maximum convenience and high speed of transactions. Jenny Cheng, vice president and general manager of Google Wallet, says that digital wallets are about flexibility and freedom. In this case, users can leave home without standard physical wallets and at the same time retain access to the most important credentials and services.
The prevailing opinion among experts is that in the future digital wallets will become even more integrated into everyday life, providing increased personalization and convenience.
Jack Philbin, chief executive officer of mobile marketing agency Vibes, says that over time, virtual wallets can revolutionize the area of travel.
Advanced functional solutions in the fintech industry are a kind of natural manifestation of global technological progress. Currently, digitalization is what can be called the dominant tendency of the era. In this case, it is natural that the corresponding process extends to the finance industry.
As we have reported earlier, Thailand to Test Crypto Services in Sandbox Environment.
