Thai Council of State Advises Against Digital Wallet Program: The Nation

Thailand’s Office of the Council of State will offer a legal opinion that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government cannot finance a 500-billion baht ($14.4 billion) digital wallet program through the legislating of a bill, The Nation reported.

The government should enact an executive decree instead of a bill to borrow that amount of funds if the need to stimulate the economy is urgent, the paper said, citing an unidentified source at the Council of State. A bill would take months to implement, suggesting the economic situation is not dire, according to the report.