BOT maintains key interest rate at 2.5%

BANGKOK, August 21 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has maintained its key interest rate at 2.5 per cent to cushion the national economic growth in the second half of this year. Paiboon Kittisrikangwan, BOT Assistant Governor for Monetary Policies and Secretary to the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), told journalists on Wednesday that the decision was made by the majority vote at the MPC's latest meeting earlier in the day. Paiboon said the majority of the MPC viewed that the Thai economy has weakened and they were concerned over risk factors of the national economy, but they believed that the BOT's 2.5 per cent policy interest rate, or the repurchase rate, would be able to promise the national economic growth this year. According to the BOT assistant governor, the MPC believed that the Thai economy should further expand in the second half of this year, thanks to the likely economic recovery of the powerful Group of Three (G3) countries, including the United States, the European Union (EU) and China, while lending for consumption by the Thai private sector remains active but household debts are returning to a normal levelp, as people are reducing their borrowing following a recent end of the government's first-car buyers program. (TNA)