Thailand's military junta on Friday night announced to lift the curfew across the country, effective immediately.

Since there are no signs of violence in areas where the curfew from midnight to 4 a.m. local time has been imposed, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) decided to lift the curfew nationwide to allay the impact on people's daily life and tourism, an NCPO announcement said.

The announcement was issued following NCPO chief Prayuth Chan- ocha's weekly televised address.

The NCPO has so far paid nearly 70 billion baht (2.16 billion U. S. dollars) to around 600,000 farmers who had joined the ousted Yingluck government's rice-pledging scheme, Prayuth said, adding all farmers involved in the scheme will get paid by June 22.

Earlier on Friday, Prayuth indicated that the scheme would not be continued, and it remains unsure whether it would be revived in the future.

The NCPO will give top priority to addressing issues like cutting the cost of living, Prayuth said.

In the address, the junta leader also vowed to proceed with the operation to seize war weapons and crack down on networks of armed men.

A large number of war weapons have been seized since the May 22 coup, he said.