NONTHABURI, May 7 – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra asserted that her government will help restrain rising consumer prices by pegging energy prices and holding public sales of cheap products to lower the cost of living.
Speaking while visiting a fresh market in Pak Kret district Monday, the prime minister said some consumer prices also tended to lower as a number of kinds of produce are returning to market, such as seasonal goods and goods previously affected by flood problems.
“Most merchants understand the real price problem and don’t complain. Some shoppers only buy cheap vegetables for the moment,” Ms Yingluck said.
She noted the prices she received at market were about the same as those received by the commerce minister. She said her administration will analyse the data from the beginning to the end of the processes and asked all parties to let prices change according to the market mechanism in order that consumer prices are fair to all.
The government will help peg household energy prices, particularly bottled gas (LPG), and try to reduce the burden of expenses for the public, especially for parents who must pay their children’s school tuition fees.
Concerning the ABAC poll released Sunday on her government’s performance, the premier asked for the public’s understanding in the matter. She said she would take the poll into consideration but denied it would affect the evaluation leading to a Cabinet shuffle.
Sunday’s poll demonstrated that higher consumer goods prices were reality, not unfounded opinion, while showing that many officials directly involved with the government’s economic policies were not known to the general public. Most respondents agreed that a Cabinet reshuffle should take place.
Meanwhile, former prime minister and opposition party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva stated that energy policies play a part in the rising consumer prices and that a Cabinet reshuffle of the energy post would be useless if policies on energy are not changed.
He asked the Yingluck administration to speed up finding solutions to the problems and to be clear on how to fix them. Mr Abhisit said if the government sees that rising consumer prices are not an issue, all projects with budgets approved to fix price problems should be cancelled.
