Government plans package to mitigate impact from rising energy prices: PM

Prayut said his government would launch measures to reduce the cost of LPG, or cooking gas, for the poor who are using state welfare card, and for food shops and drink shops that have joined the co-payment scheme.

The government is also considering ways to help lower the power bills for the poor and subsidise the cost of petrol for taxi motorcyclists, the prime minister added.

He said the government would also seek cooperation from the distributor of NGV gas to maintain the current prices until the energy price crisis eases.

“The government is considering how to help low-income and sensitive groups via the state welfare card system,” Prayut said.

“We are also discussing measures to subsidise the price of LPG for state welfare card holders as well.”

The prime minister said the government is closely monitoring the energy crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

He said the government would try to cap retail diesel price at Bt30 per litre for as long as possible.

“Now the Oil Fund has been used to subsidise the diesel price until it slides into deficit, so we’re trying to find other funding sources for providing this susbidy. We’ll do it as long as permitted by the budget and we’ll use other measures as well,” Prayut said.

The prime minister said he had instructed the Social Security Fund to consider measures to help employers and employees reduce their operation costs and cost of living as well as find measures to tackle labour shortage in certain industries.

Prayut said the Agriculture and Commerce ministries and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board are jointly considering measures to help farmers cope with the rising prices of animal feed and fertilisers.

“We have been discussing these measures since last week. We’re still discussing the measures before they will be sent to government agencies concerned before they are approved by the Cabinet,” Prayut said.