Published on November 14, 2005

Last weekend must have been more than frightening for provincial commerce officers.

They were all called to attend a workshop with Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who was extremely concerned about the impact of high fuel bills on consumer-product prices and inflation.

His message was clear: the ministry is doing everything possible to keep inflation within the 4.5-per-cent target for this year.

The workshop seemed necessary given that inflation in the past two months has shot above 6 per cent, the highest level in seven years.

That may be good for consumers who are suffering from lower purchasing power. Several consumer products were reportedly offering products in smaller packages to suit consumers’ depleted budgets.

But what sounds frightening to the provincial officers is the threat that Somkid repeated over and over: in any province where consumers file more than three complaints about overpriced goods, the provincial commerce officials will be immediately removed.

Indeed this provides a chance for anyone who may have a personal problem with an official to take action against him or her. What if people team up with their relatives and ring the Internal Trade Department? If Somkid keeps his promise, an official will immediately have to pack up shop and move out of the province.

That may be pessimistic, but looking at the issue from whatever angle, things do not sound easy for officials.

At the moment the department could easily receive four complaints from a particular province, given that absolutely everything tends to be overpriced.

One housewife’s experience is that where two years ago she was spending about Bt4,000 a month shopping at supermarkets for her four-member family, now the bills have shot up to Bt6,000.

She is not alone out there.

In the worst-case scenario, if at least four disgruntled consumers in all 76 provinces decide to file complaints, all the officials will lose their jobs at once.

That would be a headache for the commerce minister. He would need to fill the officials’ jobs and also think about where the removed officials should go.

If they were to continue to work at the Commerce Ministry, it would need to buy 76 new desks and 76 new chairs.

Of course, they could at a pinch share work stations: new investment cannot at this time be the right solution for the ministry. Why, it might buoy inflation.

achara_d@nationgroup.com

Post your comment to this story here