Central Banks
Thailand Flags Price Risks After Raising Rate to 8-Year High
- Greater demand pressure poses upside risk to inflation: BOT
- Thai baht up slightly as central bank signals tightening bias
Boxes of soda and beer for sale at a shop in Bangkok, Thailand.
Photographer: Andre Malerba/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Thailand’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in eight years, while making a case for retaining a tightening bias to anchor inflation firmly in the tourism-fueled economy.
The Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to raise the one-day repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 2% on Wednesday, as seen by 22 of 24 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with two predicting no change. The key rate was at 2% back in January 2015.