The government has a radical poverty aid programme as it seeks to tackle extreme wealth gap: the national e-payment scheme. Some previous governments adopted lavish pork barrel spending for handouts to the poor, who comprise the majority of voters. Registration for the government's poverty assistance scheme is scheduled to close today and around 14 million people are expected to sign up. Some people can use this loophole to again take advantage of the government's assistance scheme, he says. There is no state agency directly tasked with poverty registration at the moment, with the Finance Ministry the only body working on the matter, says Mr Pornchai.

Source: Bangkok Post May 14, 2017 23:37 UTC