Thai central bank sees less need for very low rates - governor

 

The Bank of Thailand logo is pictured in Bangkok, Thailand, August 5, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's central bank sees less need for very low interest rates, which will remain accommodative even as there is policy tightening, the governor said on Thursday, suggesting a rate hike could still come soon.

 

But any tightening will not be continuous and will be "data-dependent", Veerathai Santiprabhob told a seminar, adding that the policy rate "may rise and stop".

 

Last week, the Bank of Thailand's monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 4-3 to hold the benchmark interest rate <THCBIR=ECI> unchanged at 1.5 percent, near a record low, with the dissenters supporting a 25 basis-point hike.

 

Many economists expect the first rate rise since 2011 to come at the central bank's meeting on Dec. 19.

 

(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

 

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They'll just keeps rates paid on deposits really, really low and jack up rates on everything else.

“GIVE me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” - Mayer Amschel Rothschild