Thailand committee votes to keep policy rate at 1½% but not unanimously

By Marisa Wong

Morgantown, W.Va., March 28 – Bank of Thailand’s monetary policy committee voted to maintain the policy rate at 1½% at its meeting on Wednesday.

Six members voted to keep the policy rate unchanged, while one member voted to raise the rate by 25 basis points to 1¾%, according to a notice.

The committee said in making its decision it took into account Thailand’s improving growth outlook, driven by both growth in the external sector and gradual improvements in domestic demand.

Headline inflation was projected to gradually rise, though at a slightly slower pace than previously assessed, the committee also observed.

Most committee members believe that the current accommodative monetary policy stance remains conducive to the continuation of economic growth and that it should foster the return of headline inflation to target, even though the process could take some time. As a result, they decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at this meeting.

Nevertheless, one member thought that prolonged monetary accommodation might induce households and businesses to underestimate potential changes in financial conditions and that raising the policy rate at the current juncture would not hinder economic growth going forward.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.