Thailand's current account surplus hits highest level in decade in Feb 2016

BANGKOK, April 1 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) reports that the country's current account surplus has reached the highest level in decade despite a slow recovery of the national economy. BOT Senior Director for Macroeconomic and Monetary Policies Roong Mallikamas told journalists of the update on March 31, pointing out that the current account surplus stood at 7.4 billion US dollars in February 2016, the highest since 2005, resulting in the appreciation of the Thai baht. In response to a slowdown in the national economic recovery, Roong acknowledged that part of the Thai government's third round of economic stimulus measures would boost spending during the upcoming Songkran or the tradtional Thai New Year Festival in mid-April, but they would not be a real economic engine. Roong explained that some groups of consumers still have purchasing power, but they remain reluctant to spend, as the majority of people work in the Thai agricultural sector with low income and, thus, limited consumption. Meanwhile, BOT Assistant Governor for Monetary Policies Jaturong Jantarangs, noted that the Thai economy has been recovering slower than expected and the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has, therefore, revised the projected Thai economic growth rate this year, from 3.5 per cent to 3.1 per cent. Jaturong, who is also the MPC's secretary, revealed that Thai exports did not recover as expected, predicting that Thai exports should shrink by 2 per cent in 2016, instead of being stable as earlier anticipated. According to the BOT assistant governor, the problem needs times to solve and could slow down domestic consumption and investment. To raise the national economic growth rate to 3.5-4 per cent, the BOT assistant governor suggested that more private investment be induced, along with public investment. (TNA)