Thailand's banks to cut interest rates

BANGKOK, March 14 (TNA) - Several banks in Thailand are likely to cut their interest rates soon, in line with a recent move by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) to reduce its policy interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 2 per cent. Vorapak Tanyawong, President of state-run Krungthai Bank (KTB), told reporters on Friday that, as signaled by the BOT's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) earlier this week to cut the central bank's repurchase rate by 0.25 per cent to stimulate the national economy, KTB will soon lower its interest rates accordingly to support the national economic stimulus. As Thailand's forecast economic growth rate has been revised downward from 4.5 per cent to 3.2 per cent, Vorapak acknowledged that KTB has, thus, lowered the targeted growth rate of its lending to 4.5 per cent this year. TMB Bank President Boontuck Wangcharoen said TMB will also cut its interest rates soon in accordance with the BOT's repurchase rate. As the Thai economy grew by 2.9 per cent year-on-year last year and the government's new 2-trillion-baht infrastructure development projects have been postponed, his bank has also revised the anticipated growth rate of its lending from 10 per cent to 8 per cent this year. On Thursday, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Kasikorn Bank (KBank) announced that they will cut their lending and deposit rates by 0.125 per cent and by 0.13 per cent point respectively, effective from March 15. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce reported that its latest survey on 3,200 consumers nationwide found that consumers’ confidence dropped for the fourth consecutive month and made a new low in 22 months in February 2014, caused mainly by persistent domestic political protests, drought in the Thai North and Northeast and rising cooking gas price. The Thai consumer confidence index (CCI) dropped to 26.7 points in February 2014, down from 29.5 in January. (TNA)