In a last-ditch effort to postpone a rise in electricity rates on January 1, business leaders on Friday urged Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to intervene and postpone the planned fuel tariff (Ft) rate hike until  2024.

Inflation rose 0.17 per cent in July from the same month a year earlier, said Pimchanok Vonkhorporn, director of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office of the Commerce Ministry.