Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) has urged the Bank of Thailand to review its policy rate, cut the credit card interest rate, from 8% to 5%, and to narrow the spread between lending and deposit rates, to ease the financial burden on households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Of late, the central bank has been under pressure from the government and the private sector to cut its policy rate, currently maintained at 2.5% since last September.
NESDC Secretary-General Danucha Pichayanan said today that it is about time for the central bank to ease its fiscal policy, as there are signs of increasing repayment defaults,which can eventually turn into non-performing loans (NPLs).
According to the NESDC report for the fourth quarter of 2023, Thailand’s economy registered 1.7% growth and 1.9%for the whole…
