Cabinet will decide belt tightening as petrol prices soar
The Cabinet will debate belt tightening measures on Tuesday as petrol prices continue to spread gloom across the country.
"With the soaring oil price, it is vital to find ways to cut costs and not just complain," Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya said on Saturday.Chidchai said he had already asked his colleague Wissanu Kreangam to map out costsaving meas¬ures in order to ensure that gov¬ernment agencies stayed within their budgets despite the increased cost of energy. He said he would discuss the impact on the economy with the National Economic and Social Development Board in the near future. Commenting on the Royal Thai Police's concern about its budget being insufficient to cover the increased oil price, he said police as well as other agencies could reallo¬cate money from nonessential spending plans to compensate. "State revenues for the next fis¬cal year are expected to stay on course, hence the government has only a single problem to overcome - energy price," he said. He vowed to try and boost exports and inbound tourist arrivals in order to balance out the more expensive oil imports. In regard to police measures to cope with the oil price hike, many patrol cars had switched to using gasohol, Maj General Sumeth Ruangsawat, commander of Patrol and Special Operations Division, said. Patrol routes were redesigned to focus on areas with high crime rates and high security risk, he said. "The public can help police to save petrol costs by refraining from committing crimes," he said. Highway Police commander Maj General Suwira Songmetta said funds earmarked for petrol had dried up with six months still to go in the fiscal year. Suwira said the Budget Bureau allo¬cated the budget based on the petrol price at Bt10 a litre. To overcome the budgetary con¬straints, he said he reallocated funds from car mainte¬nance. The oil price hike impacted on the number of dispatches to rescue road acci¬dents. Sawang Prateep Foundation, a charity for rescue work in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district, said petrol expenses had soared from Bt30,000 a month to Bt50,000 for its fleet of five emergency service vehicles. Foundation chairman Sakcharoen Daengprasertsuk said he was forced to be more selective in responding to road accidents in order to stay financially afloat. "Our emergency service vehicles will only be dispatched to serious incidents," he said. The Nation
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