Kiat Sittheeamorn, a member of the Democrat Party's economic team, said that although the current government is just a caretaker, it must set economic problems as its first priority. His team had seen several dangerous economic indicators but the government had failed to come up with effective measures to deal with them.

Even though it launched 12 energy conservation methods, it had yet to evaluate whether they had cut down the use of energy. The government had also failed to curb rising prices and inflation, and has not undertaken research for alternative energy.

His team found the price of consumer products in some markets and supermarkets had skyrocketed by 300-700 per cent, more than the price controls set by the Internal Trade Department.

Investment in the first quarter had dropped, according to statistics from the Board of Investment. The government had also tried to give the impression that the strengthening of the baht had not adversely affected exporters. but in reality the private sector is feeling the pinch, especially the agriculture sector, he said. "Many rice exporters said their clients have cancelled the purchase of rice from them because Thai rice is US$50 per tonne more expensive than Vietnamese rice,'' he said.

"What was abnormal was the report by the Bank of Thailand about the influx of Bt140 billion into the country that has driven the baht's value,'' he said.

He suspected the money that flowed into the country belonged to US companies invested through nominees in Singapore to purchase shares of Thai state enterprises to be privatised.

Rising interest rates had badly affected the industrial sector, especially real estate. The government has yet to come up with effective long-term solutions to restore business-sector confidence. "What we hear is only daily policy that does not scratch where it itches. Being a caretaker is not an excuse. The country deserves more effective measures from the caretaker government,'' he said.

Kiat demanded the government to take action over the fact that PTT Plc and its subsidiaries enjoyed rising profit from oil but the public was facing economic hardship from rising oil prices.

He charged that information released by the Commerce Ministry did not reflect the truth and it had failed to curb price rises.

He demanded public disclosure about capital inflows and outflows, saying during the time that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced he would take a political break, a commercial bank had Bt20 billion withdrawn, causing tight liquidity in the banking system.