The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has voted to maintain the benchmark rate at 0.5%.
Piti Disyatat, MPC Secretary, made the announcement following the committee’s latest meeting on Wednesday. The interest rate had been at 0.5% since May 2020.
He said that the MPC expects inflation to come in above target this year before returning to its 1-3% target range next year.
He said that the Thai economic recovery will remain intact in 2022 and 2023. This is despite the impacts of sanctions against Russia which led to higher energy and commodity prices and a slowdown in external demand.
While sanctions on Russia have increased the costs of goods, they will not derail the overall recovery path, the MPC said, adding it would focus on supporting the recovery.
Additionally, the BoT lowered its 2022 economic growth forecast to 3.2% from the 3.4% predicted in December, but raised its headline inflation forecast to 4.9% from 1.7% seen previously. It now predicts inflation will slow to 1.7% in 2023.
The central bank also lowered its economic growth forecast for 2023 to 4.4% from 4.7%.(NNT)
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