Parliament, 'Additional Budget Committee 67' revealed that agencies have already made provisions for overlapping annual disbursements for the digital wallet project, but they must comply with disbursement regulations. Mr. Thirachai Saenkaew, MP for Udon Thani, Pheu Thai Party, as the spokesman of the special committee to consider the draft bill on additional budget expenditures for fiscal year 2024, announced the results of the committee meeting that the meeting on July 23 invited 9 relevant agencies to attend the meeting to answer questions, namely the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Ministry of Commerce, the Budget Bureau, the Digital Government Development Agency, the Office of the Trade Competition Commission, the Office of the Personal Data Protection Commission, the Office of the Council of State, and the Thai Bankers Association. The meeting considered important issues regarding the reserve of funds for inter-year disbursement, as the digital wallet project has r egistration and disbursement schedules in different fiscal years. Mr. Thirachai continued that the relevant agencies have explained that the reserve of money for multi-year disbursement must comply with the regulations on disbursement of money as specified by the Ministry of Finance. The conditions of the digital wallet project are that when someone wishes to join the project, there will be a check to see if the person meets the project conditions, such as income, age, and deposits, etc. Once the check has been completed, the system will respond to the person wishing to join the project, which is considered an offer and response that creates a legal relationship and results in the process of reserving money for multi-year disbursement. Mr. Thirachai continued that the issue of specifying the list of exempted goods for the digital wallet project, according to the Cabinet resolution on April 23, 2024, 15 items were specified, and the latest resolution of the Digital Wallet Policy Committee has added 3 more pr oducts to the exempted list: electrical appliances, electronic devices, and communication devices. Therefore, there are 18 exempted goods in total, including 1 service business, for a total of 19 items. The Ministry of Commerce can propose amendments to the list of additional exempted goods. Mr. Thirachai also said that the committee meeting also noted that relevant agencies, especially the Office of the Trade Competition Commission, must conduct a study and analyze the impact of the digital wallet project on the impact of market dominance and monopoly, including studying how the project will lead to an increase in social welfare or household consumers. The meeting voted on each section, with the majority of the committee members approving the draft bill, with some members reserving their opinions on Sections 3, 4, and 5. The next committee meeting was scheduled for July 25, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. Source: Thai News Agency
