Thai Key Rate Unchanged

Thailand’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged near a record low in the face of subdued inflation, and raised economic growth forecasts for this year and next, Bloomberg reported. Monetary policy committee members voted unanimously to keep the one-day bond repurchase rate at 1.5%, where it’s been since 2015, according to a Bank of Thailand statement on its website on Wednesday. All 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the decision. Thailand’s economy is catching up with the economic boom in Southeast Asia, buoyed by a global trade recovery and supported by a flood of tourists from China. That’s being underpinned by an ambitious infrastructure spending plan, including on mass transit lines in Bangkok and a high-speed railway project with China, which the World Bank said will lead to expansionary fiscal policy well into 2022. The government is hoping for a pick up in investment and consumer spending to broaden the expansion in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which remains export-reliant.