Thailand Approves Subsidies to Combat High Energy Prices

Thailand’s government has approved a slew of measures on Tuesday, including fuel subsidies, supposed to counter the effect of high energy prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday.

Taking effect in May, the measures will follow weeks of protests against rising fuel and living costs.

Prayuth Chan-ocha told Reuters that the government will offer 100 baht a month to 3.6 million welfare cardholders for cooking gas and 250 baht to 157,000 motorcycle taxi drivers for fuel.

Prices of diesel will continue to be capped at 30 baht per liter until the end of April and subsidized thereafter. Natural gas prices will continue to be frozen at around 15 baht per kilogram for vehicles, while electricity bills will be reduced between May and August, he added.

In addition, the employee and employer contributions to the social security fund will be lowered.

Prayuth said the government was working hard on plans to help people get out of the crisis as much as possible.

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the cabinet also approved suspending half of the 9.3 billion baht (US$278 million) debt owed by thousands of farmers to state banks, with the rest being restructured within 15 years.

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