BANGKOK, 25 March 2012 – The Ministry of Commerce has approved a budget of more than 1.6 billion Baht in establishing a scheme to relieve the public’s financial burden caused by the skyrocketing costs of goods.
During the weekly ‘Government Meets the People’ TV program, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom reassured that the government is monitoring the prices of grocery and necessity goods and is attempting to help reduce the cost of living. He revealed that the cabinet has approved 1.62 billion Baht worth of budget to distribute 20 kinds of products at low price to 2,000 traditional retail stores in Bangkok, its vicinities and 15 major provinces. The scheme will later be expanded to cover another 8,000 stores nationwide.
The 20 necessity items under this scheme include for example, rice, chicken eggs, and vegetable oil. The scheme will enable about 10 million low-income earners to buy necessary consumer goods at a price that is 20% cheaper than the market, and the project is expected to save a total of 36 billion Baht on the part of consumers’ spending.
Additionally, the Blue Flag project will be revived in parallel across the country to provide low-priced goods for low-income people.
