Govt launches community budget-food centers to help consumers

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha during his weekly televised address unveiled a number of programs aimed at alleviating financial burden of consumers.

According to the Prime Minister, the government has recently launched community food centers, where the general public can buy a meal at no more than 20 baht. The budget food centers are jointly run with local operators who are subsidized by the Ministry of Finance.

Apart from the budget-food centers, the government has also planned to market affordable packaged rice available via co-ops. It aims to strengthen the role of co-ops in order to minimize the influence of middlemen.

General Prayut said the government would continue to promote the community market project and develop co-ops into community product suppliers, so that consumers can obtain goods directly from producers. As for small-and medium-sized businesses, General Prayut disclosed that the government had approved two assistance programs for SMEs– one a 15-billion baht soft loan project, and the other a first-year guarantee fee waiver increase for SMEs borrowers.

NNT

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