The Commerce Ministry has pledged to closely supervise the prices of products and services, using both legal and administrative measures while vowing to continue discount campaigns to reduce the cost of living for people nationwide.
According to Wattanasak Sur-iam, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, the ministry through the Central Committee on the Prices of Goods and Services is set to apply measures to control product prices during certain periods if they are found to have been unreasonably inflated.
The department also promised to closely follow up on the retail prices of products and services to ensure their compliance with production costs.
There are 231 items (208 products and 23 services) that warrant the Commerce Ministry's close supervision.
Close supervision is classified by three levels: watch list (WL), priority watch list (PWL) and sensitive list (SL).
The WL includes product and service items that require close supervision of their price and movement every two weeks or a month, while those on the PWL need especially close supervision of their price and movement two times a week.
The SL covers sensitive products and services that require close supervision of their situation and price movement every day.
According to Mr Wattanasak, the Commerce Ministry plans to seek cooperation from manufacturers and traders to help cap the prices of their products or delay any moves to raise product prices, in order to alleviate the hardships of consumers.
The department is set to dispatch officials to inspect the retail prices of products and services suspected for price-gouging, ordering vendors to display price tags to match their sales prices to prevent any profiteering, he said.
In addition, Mr Wattanasak said the department remains committed to continuing measures to reduce the cost of living, especially through discount campaigns initiated by the ministry.
The ministry last year organised 16 discount campaigns through both online and offline channels to help reduce the cost of living.
The ministry also pledged to carry on linking product distribution from producers directly to consumers through the ministry's mobile commercial vehicle scheme, offering discount prices to consumers while increasing distribution channels and access to consumers.
The Blue Flag low-price scheme will also be periodically organised for consumers, particularly in areas that face natural disasters or are prone to flooding, he said.