Diesel price capped at THB32 per litre this week
Monday’s meeting of the Oil Fuel Fund executive committee agreed to fix the price of diesel at 32 baht per litre for this week, said Oil Fuel Fund Office (OFFO) director Wisak Watanasap.
He added that the fund will subsidise diesel at 11.35 baht per litre to lower the market price of 38 baht per litre and alleviate people’s cost of living. Last week, the fund subsidised diesel at the lower rate of 9.55 baht per litre.
Wisak said the Oil Fuel Fund currently has liquidity of 12.93 billion baht. He added that this should be enough to subsidise fuel prices nationwide after the government scrapped the diesel price cap, in place since October 2021, and announced gradual increases from May 1 to reflect rising global fuel prices.
“The meeting calculated that global fuel prices may start to fall when winter ends in Europe,” he said. “The OFFO will continue to monitor the Russia-Ukraine war closely and evaluate its impact on global fuel prices, before announcing the adjustment of retail fuel prices again next week on Monday.”
Meanwhile, the Government Savings Bank and Krung Thai Bank have expressed interest in lending money to the Oil Fuel Fund, which is seeking 2 billion baht to increase its liquidity. The OFFO is now studying the lending terms and expects the loan money to be distributed within June.
As of May 8, the Oil Fuel Fund was 66.68 billion baht in deficit. Its oil account is in the red by 33.258 billion baht and its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) account by 33.423 billion baht.