BOT keeps key interest rate unchanged at 1.5%

BANGKOK, June 10 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has kept its key interest rate intact at 1.5 per cent and continued to monitor impacts from its two previous key rate cuts since early this year. BOT Assistant Governor Mathee Supapongse, who oversees monetary policies, told journalists on Wednesday that the decision was a unanimous resolution of the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its latest meeting earlier in the day. Mathee, who is also the MPC's Secretary, said MPC reasoned that the Thai economy still faces risk factors and is likely to grow slowly and it should, thus, need relaxed monetary policies to stimulate its recovery. Mathee assessed that the Thai economy should, from now on, expand slowly, cushioned by the government's spending and tourism recovery. The BOT assistant governor admitted that Thai exports have shrunk because of a slowdown of the world economy, including the immense Chinese and other Asian economies. The BOT assistant governor also accepted that commercial banks responded slowly and slightly to the MPC's previous rate cuts. According to the BOT assistant governor, MPC plans to announce its downward revision of the projected Thai economic growth rate and export growth rate this year on June 19. The BOT assistant governor acknowledged, however, MPC saw a slim chance that Thailand would face a feared deflation, as domestic consumption has been rising and the prices of products and services are likely to increase as well, in line with the prices of oil and fresh food. (TNA)