New measures to better support and manage the Oil Fuel Fund are needed amid growing concerns oil and gas subsidies from the fund will drain it empty, says the Oil Fuel Fund Office (Offo).
Director Wisak Watanasap said he is preparing to inform the Offo board about the situation and discuss solutions after several billion baht was spent subsidising the prices of diesel, gasohol, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under the government's policy to ease the financial burden of households and businesses.
A subcommittee managing the fund, chaired by permanent finance secretary Lavaron Sangsnit, is ex- pected to meet to determine methods to prevent a liquidity shortage, but a date has not been determined, said Mr Wisak.
The fund posted a loss of 84.3 billion baht as of Feb 2, with 37.9 billion baht from subsidising oil prices and 46.5 billion from subsidising LPG prices.
The fund has incurred a debt of 110 million baht to maintain its liquidity and to pay interest.
The Offo averages spending of 200 million baht a day to support price subsidy programmes, with 68-70 million baht a day to subsidise diesel prices.
The government decided to extend the diesel and LPG price subsidy programmes via the fund until the end of March, with diesel prices to be kept below 30 baht a litre and LPG prices fixed at 423 baht per 15-kilogramme cylinder.
The prices of gasoline and gasohol, a mix of gasoline and ethanol, are also regulated by the fund.
On Jan 31, the government agreed to further subsidise gasoline and gasohol prices by one baht per litre via the fund after the subsidy for this category was due to expire at the end of January.
The authorities did not say how long the one-baht subsidy will last.
Mr Wisak stressed measures to carefully manage the fund are needed as the impact of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine threaten to push up global crude oil prices.
Prasert Sinsukprasert, the permanent energy secretary, said officials from the Energy and Finance ministries must hold talks to set a direction for the subsidy programmes.
They should consider a levy collection from motorists to support the fund and the oil excise tax, said Mr Prasert.