In view of the immediate impact felt by business operators, particularly rising costs for production and transport, it seems almost appropriate for the government to step in to provide temporary relief as part of its economic stabilisation efforts.

For the first time, the government has admitted that the Thai economy is unlikely to meet the growth target of 5 per cent this year. Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak cited political uncertainty in addition to high oil prices and the stronger baht as key factors that have dampened investor confidence and weighed down the Kingdom's growth prospects.

Somkid said he counted on a prompt resolution of the ongoing political turmoil to usher in a more favourable climate, one that would restore foreign investor confidence and bring international tourists back to Thailand in large numbers. In the meantime, he suggested the government and private sector put their heads together to identify prevailing problems facing the business community and find short-term solutions to them, in order to make sure the Thai economy is able to ride out this economic storm.

Already, the business community has come up with a laundry list of measures it feels the government should seriously consider implementing, such as a temporary lowering of excise taxes levied on retail oil prices. Business operators say high retail oil prices hurt everyone, from exporters to manufacturers, farmers to consumers. They say rising oil prices lead to rising production costs, which push up prices of goods and services, which in turn adversely affects consumers' purchasing power. All this leads to an economic slowdown, discourages new investment, hurts the country's export sector, and so on.

Some have even gone so far as to call on the government to revert to direct oil subsidies, despite the fact that the government's oil-price stabilisation fund continues to remain stuck deep in the red. All of this, say these business operators, would only be to ensure that consumers continued to spend the money that would keep businesses humming along and thus maintain healthy economic growth. But such a domestic-consumption-led growth model is not only simplistic, but also inadvisable in these times of severe economic difficulties.

Trying to stimulate the economy at this moment means remaining in a state of denial at a time when high oil prices have already become a hard reality in the global economy.

The effects of higher oil prices are now being felt by virtually every country in the world. What the Thai economy needs to do is adjust itself to this oil shock, the same as all the other countries are finding they have to do, too. Business operators elsewhere know it is better to conform to the new reality by cutting production and transport costs, while consumers everywhere learn to be more careful with their spending and consume less amid economic uncertainty.

There is no reason why Thai business operators and consumers should not do the same. Market mechanisms must be allowed to work the way they should, relatively free from government intervention. In short, if oil prices are too high, then simply consume less and save more.

What Thailand needs today is a quick resolution to its long-drawn-out political crisis, meaning a new general election that is free and fair and which will produce a clean government, for a change. This would serve to restore confidence in Thailand and ensure that our Kingdom returns to the path of long-term growth and stability.