Thailand: BoT not reacting to Fed rate cut

• Mar 16, 2020

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has no plan to call an emergency meeting following the US Federal Reserve’s weekend decision to cut its policy rate to zero.

Other central banks have also cut rates in unscheduled policy announcements in a concerted bid to blunt the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic

“The Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting schedule remains unchanged, for March 25,” a BoT official posted on the Line messaging app.

Chantavarn Sucharitakul, assistant governor for corporate strategy and relations, also commented through Line that the US Fed’s move reflected concerns about financial markets in the world’s largest economy, and the central bank needed to further monitor market responses.

The Fed slashed rates by a full percentage point to a target range of 0.00-0.25% on Sunday US time, and said it would boost its bond holdings by at least US$700 billion in coming weeks.

Economists expect the Thai central bank will cut its policy rate by at least 0.25 percentage points at the  March 25 meeting.

Siam Commercial Bank’s economic intelligence centre has warned Thailand is on course for a technical recession in the first half of the year, and cut its 2020 GDP forecast to -0.3% from the previous 1.8% due to the increasing gravity of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1879955/bot-not-reacting-to-fed-rate-cut