Price of ready-to-eat food has risen faster under Prayut: survey
The price of ready-to-eat dishes has risen faster in the eight years since Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha came to power, according to a survey by the Agency for Real Estate Affairs (AREA).
The AREA survey has been conducted for the past 10 years on restaurants and food centres in the busy Bangkok areas of Silom and Surawong.
It found that the price of dishes such as rice topped with curry, and noodles, increased 5.2 per cent every year between 2012 and 2014. However, that figure rose to 6.7 per cent per year after Prayut came to power following the coup in 2014. Since then, the price of the ready-to-eat meals on which many Thais depend has risen by a total of 68.3 per cent, according to the survey.
"This proves that the government's efforts to stimulate the economy have not been very successful," AREA president Sopon Pornchokchai commented.
He added that the price of dishes rose by only 4 per cent between 2020 and 2021 amid the economic slowdown, but then jumped 7.9 per cent between 2021 and 2022 due to the rising oil price.
He forecast prices would rise further through 2023 amid the economic slowdown and rising inflation.
