Finance Ministry Proposes New Criteria for State Welfare Card 2026 to Cabinet, Results to Be Announced on 17 July

The Ministry of Finance is preparing to submit the new criteria for the “2026 State Welfare Card” to the Cabinet on 14 July, stressing that both existing and new beneficiaries will be held to the same standards. The results of eligibility will be announced on 17 July 2026, with confidence that the 40 billion baht budget is sufficient.

Finance Ministry to propose new criteria for the 2026 State Welfare Card to the Cabinet.

Mr. Akeniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, revealed that in today’s Cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Finance will present the conditions and criteria for eligibility for the 2026 State Welfare program. This is a review of the previous Cabinet resolution from 9 June 2026, aiming to establish standard criteria for screening citizens’ qualifications.

Check important changed conditions.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the review aims to improve the accuracy and fairness of the screening process. Key points expected to be proposed to the Cabinet include:

• Removing tax deduction criteria, specifically excluding parental tax deduction rules from consideration.
• Debt criteria: total loan amounts across all accounts must not exceed 100,000 baht.
• Uniform standards across the system: both existing and new beneficiaries must pass screening under the same criteria.

Mr. Akeniti stated that the public should trust the government’s budget management. Although the number of beneficiaries may increase, a budget of 40 billion baht has already been allocated for the State Welfare system in the fiscal year 2027, which is sufficient to support the measures.

Timeline for announcing results on 17 July.

Mr. Lawaron Saengsnit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, explained that the submission of conditions to the Cabinet is to decide which criteria will be adopted or excluded. Once the Cabinet approves the clarity, there will be no need to resubmit beneficiary numbers for Cabinet approval, as this responsibility lies directly with the State Welfare Committee for the Grassroots Economy and Society.

The schedule and process for announcing the list of qualified recipients are as follows:

• 14 July 2026: Submit screening criteria conclusions to the Cabinet for consideration.
• 16 July 2026: Meeting of the State Welfare Committee to confirm screening data in the system.
• 17 July 2026: Official announcement of the list of qualified recipients.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance added that the government databases are now fully interconnected, enabling rapid and accurate screening processes to meet the scheduled announcement on 17 July.

/ State policy /