BANGKOK, 16 October 2013 – The Monetary Policy Committee maintains the policy interest rate at 2.5% as it believes the U.S. will be able to solve its debt ceiling problem.
Secretary of the Monetary Policy Committee Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday viewed that the Thai economy had started to stabilize with a tendency to gradually recover. Fiscal policy still played a role in stimulating the economy and expansionary monetary policy was suitable for future economic rebound amid volatile global economy, he said.
Regarding the committee’s assessment of risks to the Thai economic expansion, Mr. Paiboon admitted that the committee touched on the rice pledging scheme and its loss as well as other economic risks such as household debts and capital flows.
The meeting was concerned about the United States’ debt ceiling crisis more than the government shutdown and prepared measures to deal with its effect, the secretary said.
