Daily minimum wage hikes are estimated to raise production costs by a meagre 0.01-1.02%, so there is no excuse for traders to raise their prices, says Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn.
Officials have vowed to take immediate action against those who are found to have unfairly raised the prices of goods.
According to Mrs Apiradi, food and drink prices, for instance, are expected to rise by 0.02-0.3% because of the wage hikes, while the prices of items for daily use will increase by 0.05-0.44%.
She said provincial commercial offices nationwide had already been assigned to tighten their inspection of prices, particularly in provinces that see wage hikes.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved an increase in the daily minimum wage by five, eight and 10 baht in 69 provinces. The new wages will be effective from Jan 1.
With the cabinet's decision, seven provinces will see the daily minimum wage increased from 300 baht to 310 baht. They are Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Phuket.
Another 13 provinces will have their daily minimum wage hiked to 308 baht: Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachin Buri, Chon Buri, Rayong, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Chiang Mai, Saraburi, Chachoengsao, Krabi, Phangnga and Ayutthaya.
The minimum wage will stay the same in Sing Buri, Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Ranong, Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces.
The remaining 49 provinces will have their daily minimum wage increased to 305 baht.
The is the first time in four years wages have been hiked after the daily minimum wage was raised to 300 baht under the previous Yingluck Shinawatra government.
For the eight provinces where the wages will be kept unchanged, the government said these provinces have a handful of factories and no calls had been made from the provinces to hike wages.
The fresh wage rises would lift wages in Thailand by an average of 1.7%.
According to the Price of Goods and Services Act, any traders found selling goods or services at prices higher than the reference prices will be subject to seven years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 140,000 baht or both. Vendors without price labelling will be subject to a fine of not more than 10,000 baht.
Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, hailed the wage rises, saying the hikes will help ease the cost of living during the economic slowdown.
"This will give low-income earners higher spending power to buy more consumer goods," he said.