Thai Prime Minister’s Escalating Clash With Central Bank Worries Investors
- Srettha pushes for rate cut citing negative inflation, crisis
- BOT may reassert its independence, keep rate on hold: Nomura
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Thailand’s prime minister is mounting the biggest pressure campaign for lower interest rates in a decade, escalating a policy clash with the central bank that risks hurting investor sentiment toward one of Asia’s worst-performing markets.
Over the past week, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has bemoaned the country’s high borrowing costs on social media and called on the central bank to consider rate cuts. His economic advisers launched an unprecedented campaign for urgent easing, taking to various social media platforms and prime-time television debates to highlight how commercial banks were profiteering from the high interest rates at the expense of small businesses and individual borrowers.