{"id":564235,"date":"2026-04-04T14:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564235\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:28:15","slug":"bangkok-post-huge-loan-needed-to-finance-fuel-subsidies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564235\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok Post – Huge loan needed to finance fuel subsidies"},"content":{"rendered":"

PUBLISHED : 4 Apr 2026 at 06:11<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA truck is refilled with diesel at a service station in Samut Prakan. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Thailand’s Oil Fuel Fund is seeking a loan of up to 150 billion baht to stabilise its finances and continue subsidising domestic fuel prices as global diesel costs soar, according to Prasert Sinsukprasert, energy permanent secretary.<\/p>\n

The fund, which recorded a loss of 48.2 billion baht as of April 2, well above the legal limit of 40 billion baht, has been forced to scale back diesel subsidies.<\/p>\n

Support was reduced from 22.89 baht to 17.78 baht per litre, pushing retail diesel prices up by 3.5 baht to 44.24 baht per litre, nearly 50% higher than a month ago.<\/p>\n

Subsidies for diesel are currently capped at 1.4 billion baht per day.<\/p>\n

Mr Prasert said the proposed loan would allow the fund to continue subsidising fuel for two more months.<\/p>\n

He noted global diesel prices have been extremely volatile, surpassing levels registered during the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n

Prices jumped from an average of US$92 per barrel before the Israeli-US conflict with Iran to $290 per barrel on April 2, higher than the $150 per barrel notched during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The government’s subsidy programme covers key fuels such as diesel, vital for transport and industry, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), widely used for household cooking.<\/p>\n

The Energy Policy Administration Committee recently extended the LPG price cap until May 31, keeping the cost at 423 baht per 15kg cylinder.<\/p>\n

The fund subsidises LPG at 1.17 baht per kg, holding retail prices at about 25 baht per kg.<\/p>\n

Mr Prasert, who sits on an ad-hoc committee reviewing Thailand’s oil pricing structure, said authorities are examining the gross refining margin — the difference between crude oil and refined product prices — and have requested detailed cost data from all six domestic refineries.<\/p>\n

No decision has been made on adjusting ex-refinery prices or imposing a windfall tax on refiners who gain from a surge in crude prices, he said.<\/p>\n

Additional measures include targeted support for small fishing boats, which can buy tax-free oil, and promoting biodiesel B20, a blend of 80% diesel and 20% palm oil-derived methyl ester, to ease the burden on consumers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 4 Apr 2026 at 06:11 A truck is refilled with diesel at a service station in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,249707,249713,101,1872,249709,249712,249706,249708,249710,249711,2024],"class_list":{"0":"post-564235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-diesel-price-thailand","10":"tag-economic-impact-thailand","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-energy-policy-thailand","14":"tag-fuel-cost-management","15":"tag-fuel-subsidies-thailand","16":"tag-lpg-price-thailand","17":"tag-oil-pricing-structure","18":"tag-thai-government-loan","19":"tag-thailand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}