Bank of Thailand maintains key interest rate at 1.50%

BANGKOK, Nov 8 (TNA) – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) kept the policy interest rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent as it assessed that the existing rate was favorable for continuation of economic growth. Jaturong Jantarangs, Assistant Governor of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and Secretary of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said the committee on Wednesday unanimously decided to keep the interest rate unchanged after the Thai economy was likely to grow at a faster pace than earlier projected, driven by improved exports, tourism service and private consumption. However, small and medium sized enterprises may not fully benefit from economic recovery. He said the MPC viewed that the current accommodative monetary policy stance remained conducive to enable the economy to grow further and should foster the return of headline inflation to the target. It projected headline inflation to slowly rise from the recovery in domestic consumption, an increase in excise tax, and regulations on immigrant workers that might affect wages. Meanwhile, after the announcement of a tax incentive for year-end shoppers by the government, the committee will wait and see how much the measure will be effective to spur spending and will revise 2017 Thai economic forecast on Dec 20. (TNA)