Baht’s Best-to-Worst Move Set to Quicken After Policy Blitz
- Bank of Thailand cut rates in emergency meeting late Friday
- Central bank announced Sunday new mechanism to boost liquidity
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The Thai baht’s transformation from Asia’s best-performing currency in 2019 to one of its worst this year is poised to accelerate after the central bank cut interest rates and said it would boost financial-market liquidity to counter the impact of the coronavirus.
The decisions came in a blitz of announcements starting with the emergency rate cut on Friday evening, and carrying through to a press briefing on Sunday afternoon. The new measures are a further negative for the baht, which has already slipped more than 9% this year due to slowing economic growth, the worst drought in decades and a delay in the government’s budget due to political wrangling.