Cabinet considers cost cuts
The Cabinet will discuss how to cut state operating expenses during its meeting on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit said yesterday.
The meeting will focus on the impact of oil prices on state agencies' operations. Units may have to retrench, for example by cutting down on overseas trips, he said.On the revenue side, the government will accelerate the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport as a means to boost foreign-exchange income and much-needed earnings from the tourism industry, he said. This will be the fourth straight week that the Cabinet has discussed the impact of the oil-price rise. The government is trying to curb price hikes to ease the burden on consumers from rising oil prices, he said. On June 6 a meeting will be held to assess the airport's readiness to commence flight operations. Then it will take 50 days for international organisations to inspect the status of the airport, he said. Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak will call an urgent meeting of manufacturers on Monday to ask them to keep prices down to curb inflation during the expensive back-to-school season, a source from the ministry said. Somkid is worried that inflation, which shot up 6 per cent last month compared to the same month last year, will run out of control, the source said. The government has decided to increase the items subject to price monitoring from 150 to 170, mostly foods and school essentials such as bags. The source said that if the Commerce Ministry saw prices of the monitored items going up too much it might put them on the price-control list.
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