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Bloomberg
The Bank of Thailand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, providing policy stability to investors days before the nation’s first election since a military coup five years ago.
The Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to hold its policy rate at 1.75 percent, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement on Wednesday, in line with the forecasts from all 21 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
The MPC “viewed that the current accommodation monetary policy stance had contributed to the continuation of economic growth and was appropriate given the inflation target,†it said in a statement. Thailand’s central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points in December, joining peers in the region in tightening monetary policy as US rates rose. With the Federal Reserve now turning more cautious on rate hikes and inflation risks subsiding across Southeast Asia, central banks are adopting a wait-and-see approach on future moves.