BANGKOK, 27 February 2013 The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is confident that the local economy will register an impressive growth rate in 2013 while predicting the global oil price will rise further, this year.
BoT governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said on Tuesday that Thai economic growth rate of 6.4% in 2012 was higher than the expected rate of 5.9%.
Mr. Prasarn stated that, with a strong push from the fourth quarter of last year, many believe that the 2013 GDP growth will end up higher than 5% while pegging core inflation at 1.7% and headline inflation at 3-4%.
He added that Dubai Crude price should somewhat increase to 112 US dollars a barrel, as a result of global economic recovery.
The BoT chief went on to say that capital inflow in January 2013 has been comparable with that seen during the same month of last year.
Regarding the direction of the baht, Mr. Prasarn expects the Thai currency to regain stability within this month. However, with the likelihood of foreign exchange volatility remains, the central bank governor urged business operators to regularly pay attention to risk management.
