IMF lauds Thailand's monetary policy

BANGKOK, June 8 (TNA) - The US-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) praises Thailand's monetary policy for its standard and transparency. In a report released in Bangkok on Wednesday, IMF also said it has agreed with Thailand's low interest rates and suggested a further cut to stimulate the national economy as long as financial stability and room for necessary policies remain intact. IMF forecast, meanwhile, that the Thai economy should keep growing gradually at 3 per cent year-on-year in 2016 and 3.2 per cent in 2017, after expanding by 2.8 per cent year-on-year in 2015. IMF cautioned, however, that future challenges for Thailand should be the vulnerability of the global economy, limitations in the domestic economic structure and political uncertainty. IMF pointed out that Thailand's strong economic fundamentals, including plentiful foreign-exchange reserves, a high current account surplus and a low foreign debt, should, however, protect the Thai economy from both the internal and external risk factors. For inflation, IMF assessed that Thailand's headline inflation should be rising due to higher global oil prices, but it should remain lower than what the Bank of Thailand (BOT) earlier anticipated because of weak domestic consumption. (TNA)