Thai employers’ body disagrees with minimum wage hike

The FTI said as the date of implementation is earlier than originally anticipated, businesses will be flooded with too many financial burdens.

Kriengkrai Thiennukul, Chairman of the FTI, made this comment after the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee resolved to raise by 25 basis points to 0.75%. The higher interest rate will lead to higher financial costs for businesses if commercial banks follow the central bank by increasing their interest rates, he said.

Kriengkrai also said businesses would face higher operating costs as the Energy Regulatory Commission had earlier said it expects the fuel tariff (FT) to increase to a record high of 4.4 baht per kilowatt-hour (unit) between September and December, up from 4 baht per unit.

“The daily wage and FT are two key factors determining business costs. The government needs to pay heed to the effects of these two factors together,” he said.

If the government were to go ahead with its original plan to enforce the new minimum wage in January, businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, would have more time to plan and adjust operational costs, he added.

READ: Minimum wage in Thailand set to rise by 5-8%

The FTI is aware the wage needs to be increased under the current economic conditions. We don’t oppose that, but the new wage should not be enforced in October at a time when many businesses remain financially weak,” Kriengkrai said, according to Bangkok Post.