A former Finance Minister is urging the administration to consider changing the calculation formula for fuel.
At the “Big Issue 2022” event, former Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana remarked that the ongoing economic crisis is nothing new, with the war in Ukraine being a complication on top of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Energy prices surge as the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine wages on, affecting all sectors. The former minister said the government should not use fuel prices from Singapore as a reference.
He urged the government to consider changing the formula by taking into consideration the fact that Thailand already has many refineries with capacity beyond domestic consumption. Uttama supported the idea of importing crude oil and refining it locally. He said the approach can be piloted for a period of three months before making adjustments and implementing it on a larger scale.
Uttama said the administration should also revisit investment projects in 2022 and move funds from non-essential programs to economic stimulating initiatives, which are more important at this time.
The former finance minister agreed with the central bank to maintain the benchmark rate at the current level, as the local economic situation is still fragile. He also stated that various infrastructure projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor should continue without delay in order to gain investor confidence. (NNT)
 |
 |
 |
