BANGKOK, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government's 5,000-baht (about 152.34 U.S. dollars) monthly grant for each Thai national, affected by the COVID-19 situation, might not be provided for a six-month period as largely expected, said Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana on Thursday.
The government has earlier planned to give the money for a maximum of six consecutive months to the Thai nationals nationwide but it might be finished sooner than planned, depending on the future COVID-19 situation in Thailand, the finance minister said.
Though the grant has been initially projected to cover three consecutive months, beginning this month, as earlier declared by authorities, it might be terminated as soon as the pandemic situation ends up, Uttama said.
The grant is primarily designed for self-employed, independent earners without Social Security coverages such as taxi cab drivers, taxi motorcyclists and small-time vendors, among others.
Though the government has initially targeted to give away the money to an estimated nine million Thais, more than 24 millions have applied online to get it.
