Cabinet endorses Finance Ministry’s decision not to extend diesel excise cut
The caretaker Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a decision of the Finance Ministry not to extend the 5-baht cut on diesel oil excise, which expires on July 20, a government official said.
Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said the outgoing Cabinet endorsed the decision of the Excise Department to end the retail oil price subsidy through the 5-baht cut in excise duty on diesel when the current round expires on July 20.
During the past two years, the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has been subsidising the retail price of diesel oil through a 5-baht cut in excise tax and through subsides from the Oil Fuel Fund to hold the retail price at no more than 35 baht per litre.
Seven successive rounds of diesel tax cuts so far have cost the government 158 billion in lost revenue.
Rachada said the outgoing Cabinet is legally barred from approving any measure that would burden the new government, without seeking an approval from the Election Commission.
“The caretaker government is under legal restrictions. As a result, the excise tax cut measure will end on July 20,” the spokeswoman said.
He said it would be up to the Oil Fuel Fund Office to consider how to use the fund to subsidise the retail price and mitigate the impact on the people.
The Cabinet saw that global oil prices were on the decline to almost pre-Covid levels, Rachada added.
