Goods are loaded at a port in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’sexports will recover next year while inflation will stay within its target rangeof 1-3%, according to the Bank of Thailand (BoT).
The freshly-announced minutes of theBoT’s November 29 monetary policy meeting showed that while Thailand’seconomic recovery remains on course, structural issues might limit the positiveinfluence of the global economy on exports and credit quality must be monitored,reported the Bangkok Post.
The BoT noted that financial conditions have become morestringent, prompting increased scrutiny of the credit quality for smallbusinesses and household sectors.
At the meeting, the MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) unanimously voted to keep its one-day repurchaseinterest rate unchanged at 2.5%, the highest in a decade, after hiking it by200 basis points since August last year to curb inflation.
Thailand's economy grew much lowerthan expected, at 1.5% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, theslowest pace this year, on weak exports and government spending. The BoT will next review policyrates on February 7, 2024.
It forecast headline inflation to average 1.3%this year, down from 1.6% projected earlier. The BoT predicted 2024 inflation will stand at 2.0%but this will not factor in the potential impact of the government’s500-billion-THB (13.9 billion USD) digital wallet stimulus programme.
Separately, BoT officials predicted that tourist arrivals will return to pre-pandemic levels by late 2025, drivenby non-Chinese visitors.
The central bank has revised its forecast of Chinesearrivals in 2024 to 6.2 million from 7.5 million predicted earlier. In 2025,the central bank expects 7.8 million travellers from China - still belowthe nearly 11 million recorded in 2019, when the country welcomed a record 40million foreign arrivals in total./.
