1.   But oil price hikes and rising wages continue to put upward pressure on the CPI.

2.   Opposition members and political activists raised objections to the oil tax hike, warning of the adverse impact on the poor and advising the government to exercise other options.

3.   Analysts say that the oil tax hike should also be accompanied by measures to save and make more efficient use of energy.

4.   Another civil servant, Vichathep Pacharit, lamented that prices were allowed to rise even before the pending Cabinet meeting to decide on the oil tax hike.

5.   Bayan, a leftist coalition, protested new taxes and oil price hikes, and said it also had nothing to celebrate.

6.   Catholic and Protestant leaders have declared their opposition to the oil price hike and the expanded value-added tax, saying they unfairly hurt the poor.

7.   He named dramatic gasoline shortages in Ukraine this summer as the latest example of such instability, saying they were caused by world oil price hikes.

8.   Meanwhile, labor groups have warned of protest actions in the coming days in response to the recent oil price hike.

9.   MP Pravit Ratanapian, also of Chat Pattana, said that his party opposed the oil tax hike because it would adversely affect the people.

10.   Neptali Franco, chair of the ERB, raised the distinct possibility of an oil price hike before Congress convenes for a special session on Friday, Jan.