Thailand
Thailand: Diesel excise tax cut up in the air
The Finance Ministry has yet to consider cutting the diesel excise tax and will continue to use the Oil Fund to stabilise the retail diesel price, said Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.
Truckers have renewed their call for the price of diesel to be capped at 25 baht per litre. The move was organised by the Land Transport Federation of Thailand (LTFT).
The Oil Fund, currently valued at around 7 billion baht, is used to subsidise the retail diesel price at 2 baht per litre, which has brought down the diesel price to the current 30 baht per litre. The cabinet recently approved the fund to borrow 30 bilion baht.
Mr Arkhom said he expects the global crude oil price will decline gradually after the winter.
Earlier a Finance Ministry source, who requested anonymity, said if Thailand lowers the diesel excise tax by 5 baht per litre to peg the retail diesel price at 25 baht per litre, this will cost the state coffers up to 150 billion baht.
In a separate development, the minister instructed the Treasury Department to consider raising its commercial land rental fee next year, in line with the trend of the economic recovery.
Mr Arkhom added that the department should consider the rental fee hike as the prospects of firms which rent the department’s land plots are expected to improve next year. Therefore, the fee should be adjusted to increase the department’s revenue.
The department set the revenue target of 8.8 billion baht for fiscal 2022, up from revenue of 7.2 billion baht in the previous fiscal year.
The minister also asked the Public Debt Management Office and the State Enterprise Policy Office to discuss Thai Airways International’s plan to convert debt to equity.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2217231/diesel-excise-tax-cut-up-in-the-air