BANGKOK, 10 Mar 2014 — TMB Analytics, Thai Military Bank’s financial analysis center, has anticipated the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to maintain the interest rate at 2.25% during its meeting on Wednesday.
According to the agency, the MPC would likely keep the interest rate throughout the rest of 2014, saying the rate is considered accommodative and appropriately supportive of the nation’s economic expansion this year.
The analysis center concurred with the MPC’s previous view on the political situation that the circumstance is a short term risk factor, and the country’s sound economic fundamentals are still able to help the country weather these short-term risks.
The center observed that, since the last MPC’s meeting in late January, demands in both consumption and investment were on the decline, thanks partly to the political crisis that have negatively affected the spending.
However, detailed analysis indicated that the private consumption and investment indexes were falling due to a drop in sales of private and commercial vehicles as the government policy to provide financial aid to first car buyers had ended. Another concerning negative factor is inflation, the TMB Analytics pointed out, saying that the inflation rate is gradually rising and would start affecting the stability of commodity prices if rising high enough.
