BoT retains policy rate at 1.5 percent for the 7th time



BANGKOK: -- The Fiscal Policy Office of the Bank of Thailand agreed on Wednesday to retain its key interest rate at 1.5 percent because fiscal policy is still necessary to cope with global economic situation.

BoT assistant governor and secretary of the Fiscal Policy Office Mr Chaturong Chantharangsee said Wednesday that the Fiscal Policy Office predicted that growth rate would be smaller than earlier predicted and GDP for the whole year would be 3.1 percent instead of 3.5 percent as earlier projected due to export slowdown which is expected to shrink by minus two percent instead of zero growth.

Mr Chaturong said that the 3.1 percent GDP growth projection had not taken into consideration the government’s stimulus package which is to be introduced before the Songkran festival.

The package, he maintained, will help bolster the economy to a certain level but it will not compensate for the export contraction.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/156504


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-24

[exports] projected due to export slowdown which is expected to shrink by minus two percent instead of zero growth.

The World Bank recently projected that Thailand’s growth is expected to contract from 2.5% GDP growth in 2015 to just 2.0% growth in 2016. That estimate is beginning to look more accurate and would place Thailand as having the lowest growth of the ASEAN countries.

As economic indicators continue to show a steepening deterioration, BOT is not benefitting the economy by holding interest rates. The longer it stands, the greater cut it will have to make to attract investments. Qualitative easing will be qualitative collapsing.