It doesn't take an economist to see that inflation is crushing shoppers and families. Price rises are on the edge of getting out of hand entirely. Even the Commerce Ministry has finally become alarmed. After reporting the highest inflation rate in a year last month, the ministry warned of possible shortages of what the bureaucrats call "farm products". This is what regular people call food.
The ministries and departments are trained to massage, spin, "average out" and generally manipulate figures to the government's advantage. So consumers learned last week, for example, that the cost of shopping in the past year has risen by 2.45%. (In March, the same department reported prices rose by 2.11% since 2013.) The government's figure is laughable. Anyone knows that prices of life's necessities have risen in double figures over the past year.
The mundane and laughable government attempts to pass off major price rises as minor, manageable inflation are bad enough. Government accountants, like all accountants can make numbers say whatever is pleasing to government ears.
Consumers across the board do not need a government report to know when the cost of rice goes from 12 baht to 22 baht a kilo. They can compute on their own the problem and cost to the family when the shop at school changes the price tag on their daughter's uniform blouses from 180 to 245 baht.
The real damage is done by government attempts to gloss over the true levels of inflation, at real cost to consumers and families nationwide. It is the job of the government, the cabinet, ministries and specialised departments to take action against inflation, before its more serious effects start to kick in.
In the past year of alleged 2.45% inflation, there have been no notable attempts by government departments to halt or control it. Every food shopper and driver knows prices are rising at a horrifying rate. They expect action.
And in a way, they have got action. Every month for the past year, the cost of cooking gas has gone up because the government has halted subsidies exactly when inflation is at its worst. The two electricity monopolies, Egat and the MEA, have just announced that your bill will be higher next month, sorry. A simple lime or manao that cost an outrageous eight baht a year ago, now costs 15. Beef has risen from 200 to 240 baht a kilo.
As for food shortages, Commerce Ministry adviser Ampawan Pichalai warned two weeks ago there was nothing the ministry could do, and yes, prices will rise even more. In the past two weeks, sellers have raised the price of cilantro or pak chi from 25 to 150 baht.
This is true inflation, suffered by the whole country. It is distressing that the now-paralysed government had no policies in place to deal with it.
Almost no meaningful action has been launched to help people deal with constantly rising expenses. In many cases, it is the government itself that is piling on the inflation woes, raising prices of goods it can control
The Department of Internal Trade (DIT) announced last week it will try to pressure sellers of fast food at food courts to cut their prices. It's an old trick and it fools no one. The fast food sellers operate on tiny profits already. The DIT is turning facts on their head, blaming these small businesses for circumstances the DIT has failed to deal with.