Diesel price to drop for first time in 7 months, official says
The price of diesel will fall by 50 satang to 34.50 baht per litre from February 15, Oil Fuel Fund Office director Wisak Wattanasap said on Thursday.
Wisak said the price cut would be the first in seven months.
The price has been 35 baht per litre since June 14 last year.
The fund’s executive committee decided to lower the price following the decline in global oil prices that began in November last year, Wisak said.
The price of diesel dropped from US$135.53 per barrel last year to $116.12 per barrel in January, Wisak said, adding that global prices were expected to fall further.
Wisak also thanked the Cabinet for extending the diesel excise tax cut of five baht per litre by another four months: January 21 to May 20.
"These factors resulted in an improvement of the Oil Fuel Fund's liquidity management," he said.
The fund was 113.43 billion baht in debt as of January 29, Wisak said, adding that 68.13 billion baht of this debt was the result of subsidies for diesel and 45.30 billion baht from subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas.
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