"With the soaring oil price, it is vital to find ways to cut costs and not just complain," Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya said.

Chidchai said he had already asked his colleague Wissanu Krea-ngam to map out cost-saving measures in order to ensure that government agencies stayed within their budgets despite the increased cost of energy. He said he would discuss the impact on the economy with the National Economic and Social Development Board in the near future.

Commenting on the Royal Thai Police's concern about its budget being insufficient to cover the increased oil price, he said police as well as other agencies could reallocate money from non-essential spending plans to compensate.

"State revenues for the next fiscal year are expected to stay on course, so the government has only a single problem to overcome: energy price," he said.

He vowed to try and boost exports and inbound tourist arrivals in order to balance out the more expensive oil imports. In regard to police measures to cope with the oil-price hike, Maj-General Sumeth Ruangsawat, commander of Patrol and Special Operations Division, said many patrol cars had switched to gasohol.

Patrol routes have been redesigned to focus on areas with high crime rates and high security risks, he said.

"The public can help police to save petrol costs by refraining from committing crimes," he said.

Highway Police commander Maj-General Suwira Songmetta said funds earmarked for petrol had dried up with six months still to go in the fiscal year.

Suwira said the Budget Bureau allocated petrol money based on a price of Bt10 a litre.

To overcome the budgetary constraints, he said, he reallocates funds from car maintenance.

The oil-price hike has affected the number of dispatches to road accidents.

The Sawang Prateep Foundation, a charity for rescue work in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district, said petrol expenses had soared from Bt30,000 a month to Bt50,000 for its fleet of five emergency vehicles.