“Thailand kept its policy interest rate unchanged for a second straight meeting on signs of an improving outlook for exports and strengthening domestic demand.
The Bank of Thailand held its one-day bond repurchase rate at 2.75 percent, it said in Bangkok today, as predicted by all 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The decision was unanimous, and forecasts for growth last year and this year will be revised upward after a better-than-expected expansion in the fourth quarter, the monetary policy committee said.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government has extended subsidies, raised minimum wages and increased infrastructure investments to shield growth after the floods of 2011. While weakness in Europe and Japan persist, there is a broad-based recovery in Thai exports and the performance of Asian economies has turned positive, the central bank said today.
“The unanimous decision confirms our view that the easing cycle in Thailand has drawn to an end,” said Wee-Khoon Chong, a strategist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. “There seems to be no change in their view on the strong domestic demand and benign inflation. The BOT’s focus in the near-term will be on the potential impact of volatile capital flows.”
The Thai baht rose 0.2 percent to 30.38 per dollar as of 3:01 p.m. in Bangkok today, approaching a 10-month high. The benchmark Stock Exchange of Thailand index gained 0.6 percent, having surged 36 percent in 2012…”
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