BOT maintains key interest rate at 3%

BANGKOK, 26 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has maintained its key interest rate at 3 per cent; while slightly lowering its projection of the national economic growth rate for this year. BOT Assistant Governor Paibul Kittisrikangwan, who is in charge of monetary policies and secretary to the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), told reporters that the MPC voted 5:2 at its latest meeting on Wednesday to keep the BOT's policy interest rate unchanged, and that the resolution was the MPC's fourth consecutive decision to maintain the central bank's repurchase rate at 3 per cent. Paibul said the MPC also predicted that Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) should now grow by 5.7 per cent, instead of 6 per cent as its earlier projection, Thai exports should now expand by 7 per cent, instead of 8 per cent, general inflation should stand at 2.9 per cent, instead of 3.3 per cent, and core inflation should be around 2.2 per cent this year. According to the BOT assistance governor, the MPC also forecast that Thailand's GDP growth next year should stand around 5 per cent, instead of 5.4 per cent as its earlier projection due to impacts from global economic problems, especially those in Europe. The BOT assistant chief noted that Thailand's economic growth in the first half of this year resulted from flood rehabilitation, cautioning that in the second half of this year, there are more risk factors, namely a slowdown in Thai exports and in the Asian economies, particularly the immense Chinese economy, due to impacts from the global economic problems. (TNA)