Thailand: About 3.55 billion USD expected to be spent on election-related activities. - Illustrative image (Photo: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/) The centre said its forecast for spending by all political parties on election-related activities is in line with the Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s information, indicating that the circulation of cash in the Thai economy during the first three months of 2023 rose by about 234 billion THB to 6.98 trillion THB, 3.47% higher than that of the same period last year.
In a breakdown of the circulation of 1,000-THB and 500-THB banknotes, the centre said that the denominations increased by 1.9% and 14.2% respectively, which is considered normal by the Thai Bankers Association for a pre-election campaign period.
The increased spending is expected to drive economic growth by 0.5% to 0.7%, it added.
According to the BoT, the number of electronic money transfers in January this year, particularly through mobile banking platforms, peaked at about over 2.18 billion, an increase of 39.6%, while the value of the transfers increased to about 8.86 billion THB a month, up 6.7% compared to last year./.
VNA
