The Central bank defends its decision to increase policy rate

File photo : Piti Disyatat, assistant governor of the monetary policy group

The Bank of Thailand has defended the recent decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to maintain the policy rate at 2.50%, claiming that the decision was based on the principle that the policy rate must not pose an obstacle to economic growth, not affect financial stability or inflationary framework in the Thai economic context.

The statement was made by Piti Disyatat, assistant governor of the monetary policy group today, in response to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s comment last week that the policy rate is too high and does not correspond with the declining inflation rate.

The central bank’s monetary policy committee decided to increase the policy rate by 25 basis points last September. The rate was reconfirmed in last November and the central bank to due to consider the policy rate again in…