Billionaires step in as Thailand battles rising living costs
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Rising energy and production costs have already pushed up prices of staples such as pork and eggs in Thailand.
PHOTO: EPA
BANGKOK – Thailand is turning to its billionaire-led conglomerates to help contain rising living costs, underscoring both the urgency of inflation pressures and the outsized role of big business in the country’s economy.
Major retailers – including those controlled by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, as well as the Chearavanont and Chirathivat families – have agreed to roll out house-brand food, toiletries and other essentials at discounts of 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
The initiative is part of a government-backed campaign dubbed “Thais Helping Thais”.
CP All and CP Axtra, controlled by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont; Central Retail Corp, run by the Chirathivat family; and Mr Charoen’s Berli Jucker are among the companies participating in the campaign to keep prices in check.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, whose party won the February election partly on promises to ease the cost of living, formally launched the programme on April 1.
His government has spent recent weeks trying to shield households from rising prices while preserving already strained public finances.
“This is an important step in cooperation between the public and private sectors,” Mr Anutin said in Bangkok. “What will happen for sure is that consumers will be able to save money.”
While the government maintains price controls on dozens of essential goods, rising energy and production costs have already pushed up prices of staples such as pork and eggs.
Households are also grappling with higher fuel costs, squeezing incomes at a time when economic growth is expected to slow as tourism and exports weaken alongside global demand.
Mr Anutin’s push to get corporations to keep prices in check highlights a defining feature of Thailand’s political economy: the close alignment between the state and a handful of powerful conglomerates that dominate key sectors.
While such partnerships can deliver rapid relief in times of stress, they also reinforce an oligopolistic structure that limits competition and concentrates wealth, a dynamic that economists say lies at the heart of Thailand’s persistent inequality.
That structure has contributed to one of the world’s highest levels of income concentration.
According to the World Bank, the richest 10 per cent of Thais account for roughly half of total income, the highest share among countries with available data.
The government’s approach reflects a familiar playbook.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, large conglomerates helped accelerate vaccine distribution by providing venues, logistics and procurement support, demonstrating their capacity to act as quasi-policy partners in times of crisis.
Across thousands of wholesalers, supermarkets and convenience stores participating in the “Thais Helping Thais” programme, retailers have rolled out in-store promotions with colourful signage highlighting discounted items, including bold “50 per cent off” labels and displays of lower-cost alternatives.
Although Thailand’s headline inflation has remained in negative territory for the past 11 months, rising energy costs are expected to push consumer prices back into the Bank of Thailand’s 1 per cent to 3 per cent target range as early as 2026.
Separately on April 1, Thailand’s largest business group raised its inflation outlook to 2 per cent to 3 per cent, from 0.2 per cent to 0.7 per cent earlier.
It also cut its economic growth forecast to 1.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent for 2026, from 1.6 per cent to 2 per cent. BLOOMBERG
