ECONOMIC HARDSHIP Coupons for the poor, Scheme to start next month, Surapong says

June 11th, 2008 by admin

The government is pre-paring to give low-income people coupons to buy food and other basic necessities to lessen the impact of rising fuel and food prices.

The Finance Ministry and other key government agencies are trying to find a way to help the poor, who are suffering from the rising cost of living.

The government is expected to launch the free coupon project next month, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Surapong Sueb-Wonglee said yesterday

“Principally, the measure will help the poor in general,” he said. “They can use the coupons for food or other products. We’re discussing the value of the coupon as well as the distribution period,” Surapong said.

He ruled out any subsidy for retail petrol and diesel prices, as cheaper NGV tanks will be available next month.

The government will also organise mega-trade fairs to sell reasonably priced products to the public.

Surapong maintained that the people want the government to stay in office in order to solve the economic woes although the People’s Alliance for Democracy(PAD) is campaigning for its removal.

Federation of Thai Industries chairman Santi Vilassakdanont said that the government should provide low-interest loans to retrofit trucks to run on NGV, as this will lower logistics costs.

Board of Trade vice chairman Dusit Nontanakorn also pushed for an urgent meeting between economic federations and ministers on the government’s economic measures. The government has not yet responded to its proposal for such a meeting submitted last week.

“We need to discuss urgently how to handle rising raw material and transportation costs. Price hikes will affect inflation but the private sector can maintain the prices for a long time. We need to look at the broad picture,” he said.

Retail oil prices were raised by 70 satang yesterday as crude oil crossed US$135 per barrel.

Operators of ferries on the Chao Phya River will today ask to increase fares by up to Bt2, depending on distance.

The Cabinet is scheduled to consider the higher costs for the Purple and Blue mass-transit lines at its weekly meeting today,.

It is also the set to approve the rice-pledging programme to help farmers,, for which the budget required has spiked to Bt35 billion from Bt25 billion calculated previously.