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Bank of Thailand chief: External factors constraints for managing baht

The baht is moving in line with regional currencies, with external factor the main constraint for managing volatility, Bank of Thailand (BoT) governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said on Thursday.

The baht should move in line with market forces and the BoT will only manage to curb excessive moves in the currency, Mr Sethaput told reporters.

“We don’t want so see high volatility (in the baht),” said the governor. “At some periods, we need to manage to curb volatility but not to go against the market,” the governor said.

The central bank is urging the private sector to hedge against currency risks, he added.

The baht was trading at 37.81 per United States dollar at 10.50am, having hovered around a 16-year low against the greenback. It has depreciated about 11.7% against the dollar so far this year.

The BoT has said it is closely monitoring the currency.

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Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2423980/bank-of-thailand-chief-external-factors-constraints-for-managing-baht