The board of the state Oil Fuel Fund on Wednesday resolved to cap the retail diesel price at 32 baht per litre only until Sunday, and will review the price again on Monday, energy permanent secretary Kulit Sombatsiri said.
Mr Kulit said that on Monday the board would consider the prices of crude oil and diesel on global markets and would decide on a policy on the local diesel price.
He said that although the cabinet decided to cut the excise tax for standard diesel by five baht per litre from May 21 to July 20, the burden on the Oil Fuel Fund still needed to be taken into account.
Mr Kulit said the fund was already 72.06 billion baht in the red. If the loss reached 80 billion baht, the cap on the diesel pump price might have to rise to 33 baht per litre.
Standard diesel retailed at 31.94 baht per litre on Wednesday.