Minimum wage, debt and power bills on cabinet meeting agenda
The proposed new minimum wage, a debt moratorium for SMEs, and capping power bills for people in vulnerable groups are among the agenda items for today’s (December 12) cabinet meeting, a news source said.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Srettha Thavisin will head the meeting at Government House on Tuesday, with the primary agenda to consider the new rates of minimum wage as proposed by a tripartite committee.
The committee, comprising representatives of employers, employees and the government sector, agreed on Friday to increase the daily minimum wage nationwide in the range of 330 to 370 baht per day according to the province from January 1, 2024.
In real terms, the increase will range from 2 to 16 baht, or an average of 2.4%.
Srettha on Saturday expressed his dissatisfaction with “too small increases” in the minimum daily wages suggested by the committee, adding that he would vote against these proposed rates when the Labour Ministry brings the matter to the Cabinet for endorsement.
The premier called on businesses to consider paying workers more than the proposed rates, pointing out they too benefited from government measures such as reduced electricity prices.
The source said another key agenda on the table for Tuesday’s meeting was the consideration of a measure to offer a debt moratorium to small and medium enterprises that are classified as code 21 debtors (more than 90-day late payment).
The measure, proposed by the Finance Ministry, aims to offer one-year moratorium period to those who owe less than 10 million baht, while the government will also subsidise 1% of their interest owed to commercial banks.
The measure is expected to help SME operators, who comprise 99.5% of total code 21 debtors, pay back some 60 billion baht in debts.
The Energy Ministry will also propose to the cabinet a measure to help people in vulnerable groups regarding their electric bills, which are set to rise to 4.68 baht per unit in January, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission’s recommendation.
The measure will cap power bills for certain households at the current rate of 3.99 baht per unit, as long as they use less than 300 units per month. The measure is expected to cost 2 billion baht in subsidies.
