Thai Government not allow goods prices hike

BANGKOK, February 25 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Commerce has objected requests by several local manufacturers to raise their prices of products and planned to set up more ‘Blue Flag, Low Price’ outlets to assist local low-income earners suffering from rising costs of living. Speaking when accompanying Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to a visit to Min Buri Market on the outskirt of Bangkok Saturday, newly-appointed Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said that his ministry's refusal against a price hike requested by local manufacturers was based on the Department of Internal Trade's updated information that rising oil prices have accounted for only one per cent of local production costs. Boonsong told journalists that his ministry has also planned to increase the ‘Blue Flag, Low Price’ outlets to more than 600 nationwide later this year, as ordered by the prime minister, noting that the prime minister wants to set up one ‘Blue Flag, Low Price’ outlet in every community. Meanwhile, Internal Trade Department Director-General Vatchari Vimooktayon said there are about 8,000 sub-districts throughout the country and she believes that the ‘Blue Flag, Low Price’ outlets should be set up first in provinces where costs of living are higher or in those provinces which were severely hit by a flooding disaster late last year. Meanwhile, Premier Yingluck earlier said during her weekly address Saturday morning that containing costs of living is one of her government’s major policies. However, the crux will be solved not through price interventions but through market mechanisms to be fair to both buyers and sellers. (TNA)