Anutin concedes diesel price move will hurt public, aid planned

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul admitted today that the government’s decision to remove the cap on diesel prices, allowing them to float in line with market mechanisms, will definitely affect the public.

Although the government has stopped subsidising diesel prices through the Oil Fuel Fund, he said it is considering other measures to help selected groups, as well as the industrial and agricultural sectors.

He declined, however, to respond to journalists’ questions about reports of people fighting for fuel at gas stations in Phrae.

The price of biodiesel at service stations in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces today stands at 32.94 baht per litre.

The Oil Fuel Fund is currently spending 37 baht per litre in subsidies to maintain that price, with about 200 million baht spent each day.

Meanwhile, caretaker Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat led a team of officers from the Department of Special Investigation and officials from the Consumer Protection Division to inspect oil depots at the IRPC refinery in Rayong today, to check fuel stocks.

As IRPC is the only refinery producing “green fuel”, or diesel specifically for the fishing industry, the minister said the inspection was intended to ensure that the fuel is not being smuggled abroad for profit, given the wide gap between the market price and the subsidised price for fishing boats.