BOT:Baht is in line with market mechanism

BANGKOK, January 24 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) says that the baht has been moving in line with the market mechanism, but the central bank will continue taking care of the Thai currency to hover within its appropriate range. BOT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob spoke of the situation of the Thai currency at a seminar on the Thai capital market outlook and preparations for the Thai economy to cope with changing world technologies, held in Bangkok on January 23. Veerathai explained that the weakening US dollar has caused the appreciation of the Thai baht and other currencies in the region currently, which is considered the normal situation. "The central bank will keep taking care of the Thai baht so that it moves within its appropriate range but remains in line with the market mechanism with no distortion for only the national trade interest unilaterally. Washington's close watch on Thailand as one of the world's 16 economies with high levels of trade surplus is, thus, a matter of no concerns", stressed the BOT governor. The BOT governor optimistically viewed the closure of more bank branches as a positive factor beneficial to both clients and personnel of the banks in terms of a cut of service fees and more personnel training to cope with the global digital world. The governor revealed, meanwhile, that the BOT plans to issue a regulation on launching the Banking Agent system to represent financial institutes in order to provide more access to deposit and transaction service for small-scaled clients more efficiently. The BOT governor opined that the government's recent decision on a new wage hike by 5-22 baht daily, effective as of April 1, 2018, is in line with the Thai economic condition currently and it should slighly affect inflation. Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong told journalists, in the meantime, he agreed with the BOT that Thailand's inflation should be in the central bank's targeted range of 1-4 per cent this year and a low inflation rate currently is a matter of no concerns. (TNA)