‘War room’ targets mass price hikes
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister JurinLaksanawisit has set up a ‘war room’ to provide him with daily updates on product prices
as fears rise over increases in transportation costs due to rising fuel prices.
Deputy Prime Minister Jurin has also ordered the Department of Internal Trade to closely monitor product prices and to calculate appropriate price increases for individual products in the event of a transport fare hike.
Various transportation services are now reportedly looking to raise their fares by about 20%, reported state news agency NNT.
Relevant state agencies have been tasked with calculat
ing the appropriate change in product prices that may follow
the transport fare hike, the report added.
Mr Jurin said global oil prices have sharply increased and the effects are being felt in every country ‒ a message that local government agencies
have been repeating for weeks.
The government has ameliorated rising fuel prices by capping the price of diesel at B30 a litre, the NNT report added. The Phuket News
However, notes that not marked in the report was that petrol prices have increased by over 19% in just the past six months.
The commerce minister said individual products will be looked at should the diesel price exceed B30 a litre.
Phuket will be particularly
exposed with nearly all retail produce and items sold on the island being brought in by road.
“In such a scenario, commerce officials will determine
the impact of oil prices on each product’s overall cost,” the report added.
Mr Jurin noted that products have different cost structures and so prices cannot be allowed to increase across the board. He added that joint deliberations over proposed price
increases would be needed in advance.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the Department
of Internal Trade will be analysing product cost structures more meticulously than before.
“For the benefit of consumer benefit, product prices will be kept as low as possible
but at levels which still allow producers to subsist,” Mr Jurin noted.
So far, manufacturers have
cooperated with requests to keep prices unchanged amid heightened costs, he said.
The impact of rising fuel prices comes as officials confirm that all provinces last year
recorded their lowest level of tourism revenue on record.
Tourism receipts in 77 provinces set a historic low in 2021 with revenue declining by 69.55% to B241,350 billion, while the income gap between Bangkok and other major provinces remained wide, according to the Tourism
and Sports Ministry. Meanwhile, almost 42% of
hotel operators remain concerned about the COVID-19 situation, even though more have started to reopen, reported the Bangkok Post.
Last year Bangkok posted the highest revenue at B62.7bn,
plummeting by 75.39%, while
Chiang Mai lagged in second place with a decrease of 53.27% to B23.3bn.
Phuket recorded B21.3bn in revenue, a massive drop of 80.34%.
In the bottom half, Nong Bua Lam Phu, Amnat Charoen
and Samut Sakhon earned the lowest tourism income at B58.24mn, B139.6mn and B142.2mn, respectively.
The tourism recession car
ried on from 2020, in which total revenue from 77 provinces plunged 55.4% to B482bn.
The hotel business operator
sentiment index conducted by the Thai Hotels Association (THA) and the Bank of Thailand which polled 200 operators nationwide between
Jan 10-26 also reported the ongoing impact from the pandemic as 49% of them had revenue lower than 30% compared to the pre-COVID level.
The average occupancy rate in January dipped to 32%
from 37% in December due to the temporary suspension of the Test & Go programme.
Some 50% of hotels had less income compared to December, while 53% had cash flow to sustain them for less than three months.
“Three-quarters of hotels were uneasy about the Omicron threat as 42% of them were deeply concerned about the situation and 44% were moderately worried about the latest outbreak, particularly hotels in the North which recorded a high number of cases,” said Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of THA.
She said most of the hotels were affected because domestic travellers reduced out-of-home
activities, while Test & Go’s suspension impacted bookings
from international guests.